"Summer Diving" Author: [Sweden] Sarah Strisberg / [Sweden]] Sarah Lundberg Publisher: Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House

2019 August Literature Prize Nominees

2020 White Crow Award Works

Illustrated by Sarah Lundberg, author of "When I Fly Like a Bird Towards My Dreams", nominated for the 2021 Kate Greenaway Medal

Lead children to embrace mental illness and sadness with peace of mind

◎ Editor's Recommendation

☆ A heartwarming picture book that focuses on difficult topics from a child's perspective and gently embraces mental illness (depression).

The story looks at people with mental illness from a child's perspective, and tells the children's doubts and desires, thoughts and growth when their family members suffer from depression. The innocence of children filters out the gloom in the story. Even when facing serious mental illness, they can put on the wings of imagination, dive and swim in the summer grass, fly into the shelter of friendship, compensate for the lost father's love, and gain emotional comfort.

☆ A book of growth about accepting sadness and learning to live with sadness with a peaceful heart.

The story reflects the common feelings of people, not only children but also adults. How should we face sadness when it comes? How should we deal with it when our relatives or friends are in pain? Maybe it is not to encourage each other to cheer up, but to accept the low spirit with a normal heart. Accompany and understanding may be the most suitable way. At the same time, the story also conveys an important life concept, that is, sadness is an important part of life, we must learn to live with sadness and continue our lives.

☆ The pictures are beautiful, full of tenderness, hope and insight, with many small details worth exploring.

Sarah Lundberg, the author of the 2021 Kate Greenaway Award-nominated work "When I Fly Like a Bird to My Dreams", drew illustrations with great passion. The colorful, bright and emotional pictures dilute the heaviness of the story itself and bring brightness and hope. The red hospital building, Zoe and her mother's bright red clothes, the two girls' red swimsuits, the green grass and pink flowers in the summer hospital, and the blue necklace that runs through the story... The beautiful paintings vividly show how the protagonist went through this period of time, and how he went from being puzzled about his father's mental condition to gradually gaining some vague understanding.

☆ The language is poetic and concise, full of philosophical thoughts, and the themes are rich, making it worth reading again and again.

Written by Sarah Strisberg, a nominee for the August Prize, the book is poetic, concise and philosophical. In addition to focusing on mental illness, the book's exploration of games and imagination, friendship and companionship, dreams and freedom also gives the story more meaning, making it worth reading again and again.

◎ Introduction

The little girl Zoe's father left home. She was told that he was sick and needed to stay in a psychiatric hospital for a long time. Dad was unhappy and didn't even want to live. When Zoe and her mother went to visit him, he said he didn't want to receive any visits. But Zoe still came every day as scheduled. While waiting for her father to recover, she met Sabina, who was a swimmer, and they became friends. The two girls, one big and one small, swam and dived in fantasy on the summer grass, accompanying each other through this difficult time. At the end of the story, Dad returned home, but he was still unhappy, and Zoe finally understood that people are not always happy, and sometimes they live with sadness.

◎ Media Recommendation

Summer Diving shines with poetic, refined words and images. It is a moving book about games and mental breakdown, life and death. At the center of the story is a father with mental illness and suicidal tendencies, and a daughter trying to make sense of the unimaginable. How could you not want to live when the world is so beautiful and I am still here? But her question is not an accusation, but more like an embrace. It is both a game and an affirmation of life in the most difficult times.

——August Prize Jury

◎ Celebrity recommendation

For decades, depression has been hidden from children, but this has proven to be a bad idea. This beautiful and tender book breaks that taboo and fills an important gap in children's literature.

—Andrew Solomon, American author and professor of clinical psychology

Summer Dive is a gorgeous, moving book about happiness, which may not be the great, all-encompassing goal we all think it is. Instead, we can learn to live with sadness, and we can and must get on with our lives.

—BJ Epstein, translator of When I Fly Like a Bird Towards My Dreams

◎ Award record

Nominations for the 2019 Swedish August Prize

German White Raven Award 2020

Author: Sarah Strisberg (1972-)

Swedish writer and playwright. Her works not only have a large number of readers in Sweden, but have also been translated into 25 languages ​​and sold worldwide. Major works include: the novel "Happy Sally", the novel "Dream Academy" (2007 Nordic Council Literature Award, 2019 Man Booker Prize nomination), the drama "Madeland" (2012 August Prize), etc. In addition, she also writes literary works for children. In 2012, she published her first picture book "Mother and the Sea", and "Summer Diving" is her second picture book.

Illustrator: Sarah Lundberg (1971-)

Swedish painter and illustrator. Educated at McDaniel College in the United States and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. She was nominated for the British Kate Greenaway Award (2021) for "When I Fly Like a Bird to My Dreams", the Swedish "August Literature Award", and several other awards. In addition to writing stories, she has also illustrated more than 30 children's books. She is one of the illustrators representing Sweden at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.