Chinese / People's Republic of China
Qi miao de shu
(The fantastic book)
Yang, Sifan
(text/illus.)
Guilin: Guang xi shi fan da xue chu ban she (Guangxi Normal University Press), 2016. – [32] p.
(Series: Mo fa xiang tu hua shu wang guo; ME116)
ISBN 978-7-5495-8950-0
Book | Picture book | Reading | Wordless book
Reading age: 4+
White Ravens issue: 2017
This is a textless book all about the enchantment of books and the fantastic life that we may experience through reading. While a group of animals are drawn together by a book that a little girl is reading, each becomes engulfed in a dreamy world of its own. The light-hearted illustrations show interesting scenes, such as a giraffe and a crocodile drinking greedily from a book, a mouse seeking adventures in a house on the back of a long snake, a rabbit hero bravely fighting against a ferocious wolf, a fox abducting a group of chickens with a book, a worm flying high up in the night sky with a flock of birds ... There’s a transformed book on every page that plays a vital role in each animal’s respective dream and adventure, showing how books broaden our horizons and imaginations regarding the possibilities of life. Yang Sifan is an editor, illustrator and designer of children’s books. His works display a penchant for the nonsensical, still a rare quality in Chinese picture books.