Chinese / People's Republic of China
Bie rang tai yang diao xia lai
(Don’t let the sun fall!)
Guo, Zhenyuan
(text)
Zhu, Chengliang
(illus.)
Beijing: Zhong guo he ping chu ban she (China Peace Publishing House), 2018. – [36] p.
(Series: Xiao bai ge tong shu guan)
ISBN 978-7-5137-1225-5
Sunrise | Sunset | Animals | Folk art | Picture book
Reading age: 3+
White Ravens issue: 2019
The animals are enjoying a sunny day on the mountain. However, in the afternoon, they find that the sun is setting in the sky. Each animal tries its best to grab it, but each fails, one by one. The sun sinks down eventually, and the animals strive to dig it out of the ground, until they fall asleep. When they wake up in the morning, they are happy to find that they have “dug” the sun back out. Guo Zhenyuan offers a humorous explanation of how the sun falls and rises. Illustrator Zhu Chengliang combines Chinese traditional lacquer art with oil painting, while the animals’ images get their inspiration from traditional toys. Zhu has illustrated a number of award-winning picture books, including “Mian po po shui bu zhao” (Grandma Mian can’t sleep) and “Da deng long” (Playing with lanterns). “Tuan yuan” (A New Year’s reunion) won the Grand Prize of the 2009 Feng Zikai Children’s Picture Books Award and was selected for “The New York Times’s Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2011”. Zhu is nominated for the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award.