Chinese / People's Republic of China
Shao nian yu hai
(The boys and the sea)
Zhang, Wei
(text)
He fei: An hui shao nian er tong chu ban she (Anhui Children’s Publishing House), 2014. – 272 p.
ISBN 978-7-5397-7113-7
Sea | Nature
Reading age: 10+
White Ravens issue: 2015
Three boys live at the seaside. Every day they hear about and witness marvelous stories unfolding in the woods by the sea. There is, for instance, the romance of an orchard farmer and a fairy-like bird, the love and revenge legend involving a hunter and a bear, and the mystery of a man’s transformation into a roe deer. Being one of the most outstanding novelists in contemporary China, Zhang Wei has now started writing books for children and the child that he has long cherished in his own heart. His seemingly simple language possesses unusual poetic power, which perfectly reflects a child’s innocent voice and perspective. Writing of the original kinship between the human and the natural world, it reads like a paean of the pastoral life we’ve long lost and missed.