Genres
Collection
Description
A little girl with a vivid imagination ventures into the garden after it has rained and discovers its beauty. Full of imagination, she enjoys a stroll and encounters many of the creatures that call the garden home. A smartly dressed earthworm, the lazy sun, a shy raccoon, a dancing butterfly. There is so much for her to see. This beautifully illustrated story will make readers appreciate the small wonders of nature.
Publication
Starfish Bay Publishing (2018), 36 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
A little girl in little red boots explores her garden after a rain shower in this lovely, contemplative picture-book from China. Each creature or object she encounters, from the earthworm to the leaf, provides the little girl with an imaginary entry into a different experience, and another way of
Originally published in Chinese as 好像 ("hao xiang," which translates as "it seems"), As If...As If... is a beautiful book, one that was inspired, according to author Wenjun Qin's afterword, by a walk through New York City's Central Park, during a family stay in that city. The text is gentle and dreamy, effectively communicating the mood and feeling of a wet world after rainfall, while the illustrations, done by Xun Liu in oil paint (I believe), are soft and likewise dreamy, capturing the enchantment and beauty of the natural world. I haven't read too many picture-books translated from Chinese, so I'm happy that the Australian publisher of this one, Starfish Bay Publishing, based in Adelaide, has made Wenjun Qin's book available to the English-language market. There were one or two minor textual hiccups (verb/subject agreement, and the like) that I noticed, but overall I enjoyed this translation. I will definitely be looking for more from both this author and this illustrator. Recommended to anyone looking for picture-books translated from the Chinese, as well as those searching for children's stories about the beauty of nature, and the power of imagination to connect us to nature.
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viewing the post-rainstorm world. The peach blossoms are "especially well dressed, as if waiting," while the dragonfly rests on the little girl's finger, "as if he is an emerald ring with a pair of silver wings." It is as if, the narrative informs us, the girl can understand all of creation around her...Originally published in Chinese as 好像 ("hao xiang," which translates as "it seems"), As If...As If... is a beautiful book, one that was inspired, according to author Wenjun Qin's afterword, by a walk through New York City's Central Park, during a family stay in that city. The text is gentle and dreamy, effectively communicating the mood and feeling of a wet world after rainfall, while the illustrations, done by Xun Liu in oil paint (I believe), are soft and likewise dreamy, capturing the enchantment and beauty of the natural world. I haven't read too many picture-books translated from Chinese, so I'm happy that the Australian publisher of this one, Starfish Bay Publishing, based in Adelaide, has made Wenjun Qin's book available to the English-language market. There were one or two minor textual hiccups (verb/subject agreement, and the like) that I noticed, but overall I enjoyed this translation. I will definitely be looking for more from both this author and this illustrator. Recommended to anyone looking for picture-books translated from the Chinese, as well as those searching for children's stories about the beauty of nature, and the power of imagination to connect us to nature.
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Language
Original language
English
Physical description
36 p.; 10.5 inches
ISBN
1760360619 / 9781760360610