Chinese / People's Republic of China
Shui dai zou le wo ye ye
(Who took my grandpa away?)
Cao, Wenxuan
(text)
Zhang, Yunkai
(illus.)
Bei, Lin
(illus.)
Beijing: Tian tian chu ban she (Daylight Publishing House), 2024. – 289 p.
ISBN 978-7-5016-2277-1
Grandfather | Death | Journey
Reading age: 10+
White Ravens issue: 2024
Dahe sets out on a journey all alone to look for Grandpa’s urn, which he lost on the way back from the crematorium. His search is accompanied by memories: the pigeons grandpa kept, the lost girl he saved, the desperate man he helped, and everything he taught Dahe. As the boy follows the clues and does what he thinks Grandpa would like him to do, the journey becomes a process of reconciliation with Grandpa’s death. When all hope seems lost and Dahe is about to accept the loss, a pigeon Grandpa once kept finds the urn in a field. This children’s novel is as poetic and symbolic as the other work by Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Cao Wenxuan. He won many prizes, including the National Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature (Quan guo you xiu er tong wen xue jiang) and there are children’s literature awards named after him. His books include »Qing tong kui hua« (Bronze and Sunflower), »Cao fang zi« (The grass house), and »Qing ting yan« (Dragonfly eyes). [FW, ZX]