Alone (picture book)

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Illustrator by himself : Guojing (2016 at the children and youth program of the Berlin International Literature Festival )

Alone (original title: The Only Child ) is the first comic or picture book by the Chinese illustrator Guojing, who lives in Singapore . Without words, alone tells a story about the narrative level between reality, dream and fantasy of a Chinese girl who gets lost in the forest on her way to her grandmother and finds her grandmother's house with the help of a magical deer.

It was published on December 1, 2015 by the American publisher Schwartz & Wade in English and has a length of 112 pages. The German edition was published by Jacoby & Stuart in 2016 and also has 112 pages. In addition to the USA and Germany, the book has also been published in Great Britain and China. It is the first book by Guojing, who has worked in the game and animation industry to date.

Alone was recognized by the New York Times as one of the Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2015 and by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Children's Books of 2015 in the picture books category and was awarded the Eisner Award in the Best Publication for category in 2016 Young Readers (2016) nominated. In the feature pages, the book was referred to as a "dreamy, wordless debut" (New York Times, November 6, 2015).

The original edition of the book is called The Only Child - literally translated into German, this means an only child . With this title, Guojing refers to China's one-child policy .

aesthetics

The book comprises 112 pages, which are illustrated exclusively in different shades of gray. The images sometimes fill complete pages or even double pages, sometimes several images, separated from one another as a panel, can be seen on one page. Aesthetically, the book is therefore more like a comic than a picture book. Another special feature is the basic color nuance of the book. While the beginning of the story up to the point in time at which the deer accompanies the girl into the clouds and the end of the story from which the deer brings the girl home is greyish from the background of the page, the scenes in the cloudy sky in between are from The page background is white. Guojing thus indicates that the intermediate part of the narrative is on a different narrative level. It is not clear whether this is a dream or just a child's fantasy. Aesthetically, the book is similar to Shaun Tan's book The Arrival .

content

Without words, Alone tells the story of a young Chinese girl who is an only child and whose parents leave her in the morning to work. It makes its own way to see its grandparents. It falls asleep on the bus and only wakes up when the bus arrives at the final stop and has to get off. It sets off on its own, but soon notices that it has got lost. In the forest, the girl meets a magical deer, which she runs after and who carries her on his back into the clouds a magical land on the clouds. In the cloudscape, the deer and the girl meet other magical creatures, such as a giant whale swimming in the clouds and a creature that is half polar bear and half seal. Together the girl, the deer and the bear-seal-being pass the time until the mother of the bear-seal-being comes and takes it with her. The deer brings the girl from the cloudlands to her grandparents' house, where she falls asleep with a toy deer in hand.

background

In the foreword to Alone , Guojing describes an incident from her childhood when her father sent her alone by bus to her grandparents when she was six years old. Her parents both had to work to support the family. As in the story of Alone , Guojing fell asleep as a little girl on the bus ride. When she woke up the bus was almost empty. She got out scared. Since there was no one to help her, she set off on her own and, following the bus's power cables, managed to find her grandparents' house after a good three hours. With Alone, Guojing refers to the one-child policy in China in the 1980s. Since both parents often had to work to support the family and the children had no siblings due to political regulations, a lonely generation emerged. Guojing explains that she created "a book about her feelings of loneliness and isolation" and how to use love and imagination to face those feelings. Having had a lonely childhood herself because of the one-child policy, she grew up daydreaming like in a book.

characters

The girl A nameless girl is the main character of Alone . It is an only child

The Deer The deer appears when the girl is lost in the forest. He has special skills, such as running and flying on clouds. The girl climbs on his back. Together they then ascend into the cloud kingdom. Throughout the story, the deer remains a loyal friend of the girl and protects her.

The parents The girl's parents are employed and therefore leave their daughter at home alone. When they realize that their daughter has been lost on the way to her grandparents, they worry and start looking for her. At the end of the story, they happily embrace her at home.

The bear-seal-being The bear-seal-creature makes friends with the girl in the cloud kingdom. Just like the girl, she seems very young and is traveling alone. However, it is later picked up by its parents and leaves the girl alone with the deer.

reception

The Only Child was voted one of the best illustrated children's books of 2015 by the New York Times and was also featured as one of the best children's books of 2015 by Publishers Weekly magazine. In the features section, the New York Times author Samantha Hunt called it a "dreamy, wordless debut".

"With stunning monochrome drawings that eventually soar into the clouds, the illustrator Guojing evokes her own childhood in a wordless story that moves from ugly industrial surroundings to the consolations of imagination and parental love." (Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Wall Street Journal , 11 December 2015)

"Guojing's single palette in graphite black and gray suggests an old photograph come to life, while the story seems to come from a dream country reminiscent of Raymond Briggs's beloved book The Snowman ." (Kathie Meizner, The Washington Post , November 18, 2015)

"Rare is the book containing great emotional depth that truly resonates across a span of ages: this is one such." ( Kirkus Review , August 26, 2015)

expenditure

Public book presentations

The book was presented as an international premiere in the presence of the writer at the children's and youth program at the 16th Berlin International Literature Festival in September 2016.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://penguinrandomhouse.ca/imprints/schwartz-wade
  2. ↑ https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=guojing&qt=owc_search
  3. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/28/books/review/28-new-york-times-best-illustrated-childrens-books-of-2015.html
  4. ↑ http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/68552-pw-s-best-children-s-books-of-2015.html
  5. ↑ Samantha Hunt: Isol's 'The Menino,' and More
  6. ↑ Natasha Gilmore: Fall 2015 Flying Starts: Guojing . Publishers Weekly, December 11, 2015.
  7. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/28/books/review/28-new-york-times-best-illustrated-childrens-books-of-2015.html
  8. ↑ http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/68552-pw-s-best-children-s-books-of-2015.html
  9. ↑ Samantha Hunt: Isol's 'The Menino,' and More . New York Times November 6, 2015.
  10. ↑ http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-childrens-books-of-2015-1449869178
  11. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/our-top-three-childrens-and-ya-books-to-start-off-your-new-year/2016/01/05/3a82dd08-a9b3 -11e5-8058-480b572b4aae_story.html
  12. ↑ https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/guojing/the-only-child/
  13. ↑ Website at the German publisher , accessed on July 31, 2016
  14. ↑ http://www.literaturfestival.com/kjl