"Letters Filled with Summer: Belgian Picture Book Master Series" Author: [Belgium] Ann Apple Publisher: Dolphin Publishing

Introduction · · · · · ·
Size S | Ages 3 and up

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The first frost. Oscar the brown bear smells the cold in the air. Lero the dormouse says: "Winter is coming." They will spend the whole winter sleeping. They want to write all their memories in a letter and send it to their friend Jean. But neither Lero nor Oscar can write...

So, they put bits and pieces that could evoke memories of the summer forest into an envelope, making a unique tea bag. (*Why is it a "tea bag"? The video accompanying the book will reveal it to you.)

【Editor's recommendation】

*The book comes with an exclusive animation video + envelope + 3 exquisite postcards.

This picture book provides us with such a beautiful and innocent idea, collecting things that represent time and seasons, just to share summer memories with friends. Whether it is this story or the exclusive animation video that comes with the book, it will definitely surprise you!

★Jointly created by Belgian picture book master Anne Apple and famous European children's book publisher Casterman, it has a unique style, is full of innovative spirit and philosophical implications.

Ann Apple's sensibility, imagination and artistic talent make her picture books and fairy tales fresh and refined, full of poetry, thought and fun, and unique among many picture books. Her works have won many awards for children's books in Europe, including the Children's Book Award at the Bologna Book Fair in Italy, the French Witch Award, etc., and have been nominated for the International Lindgren Memorial Award many times. In China, she has published "What Color is the Wind?", "What Does the Moon Do at Night?" and "Little One", which have been widely praised by experts and readers.

Casterman is a well-known children's book publisher in Europe and America. Its TinTin comics have achieved great success worldwide. It has a publishing spirit of daring to innovate and pioneer. Its content creation and arrangement are unconventional and unique. It constantly creates epoch-making books and well-known children's books with themes and characters, such as "Ernest et Célestine" (Ernest Bear and Célestine Mouse), Corto Maltese hero comics, Alix adventure comics and Le Cha humorous comics. Its publishing concept is very consistent with Ann Apple's creation, and the two powerful forces complement each other.

★A poetic picture book that perfectly combines imagination, artistry, and philosophy, nourishing children's temperament and character, and opening their perception of "beauty".

The author once said: "Imagination is also a way of looking at life, a game, and children have the ability to play games." When reading Ann Apple's picture books, you will find that this kind of "imagination" is by no means the concept we usually understand. It will revolutionize our understanding of "imagination" - there are no ups and downs in the plot, but it is quiet, soft, and comfortable. It will evoke the inner memories of adults and taste the taste of the passage of time, but for children, this may be real.

This feeling is the uniqueness of the author's writing style. She is very good at mobilizing readers' perception through pictures and texts. For example, "Then the night falls, calm, blue, very blue, navy blue", which gives people a feeling of tranquility and vastness, as if they are at the seaside. When reading carefully, they will unconsciously be brought into that artistic conception. For children, this will be a kind of edification, which will subtly nourish their temperament and character, and perceive another kind of quiet and gentle "beauty" in daily life. It is also suitable for parent-child reading or as a good night picture book.

★Exquisite text, rich and diverse graphic elements, and profound stories inspire children to express, create, and think.

The text in the book is not only easy to read, but also uses a lot of rhetoric: metaphor, personification, synaesthesia... It can cultivate children's sense of language and lay a good foundation for writing classes in elementary school. Parents can also mobilize their children's imagination during parent-child reading and let them express themselves freely. For children in the lower grades of elementary school, this set of picture books is a good material for writing classes.

Secondly, the pictures integrate a variety of image elements to inspire children's artistic creation. The author uses a variety of techniques such as watercolor, gouache, crayon, rubbing, photo clipping, etc. to show unique hand-painted brushstroke textures (using flowing watercolor to express the rainy sky, using clear brush textures to express the surging and turbulent river, and using dense and different thicknesses and colors of brushstrokes to express various rains), and combines the animation video with the creation of picture books, so that picture books can explore richer and more profound themes. Don't worry about whether your child can interpret the deep meaning of the story. Just like children should read poetry from an early age, they will have the ability to understand and accept in their subconscious.

【Celebrity Recommendation】

Ann Apple is always trying different artistic techniques to explore new ways of "speaking". Philosophical implications permeate the childish innocence - this is a child's dream and also a fairy tale in the hearts of adults.

——Xiong Liang, a well-known original picture book writer and art educator

In children's minds, words, pictures, inaudible sounds, intangible poetry... are all their "languages". The world they see in them is much bigger than that of adults.

——Tong Zi, children's poetry poet and winner of the Bing Xin Children's Literature Award

Ann Apple's picture books are slender and soft, sprinkled with the silver light of the moon and faintly carrying the sweet fragrance of baked muffins.

——Best-selling author and well-known educator Teacher Big Cat