Wen | Chu Xi
I think we have all had the experience of moving, but the whole family built a house together, from preparing materials and determining the location, to digging, building foundations, building frames and installing wallboard, and so on, and the whole family built a shelter together.
The picture book
Building Our Home
is based on the real experience of the author
Jonathan Benn
. When he was young, his parents bought a piece of wasteland to build a new house for the whole family. During this period, they lived in a small car, and it took them five years to build this tender single-family wooden house with spare time.
The most amazing thing is that three new members (the author and his two sisters) have been added. This calm and independent pioneering spirit is not something that ordinary people can easily do. At least you have to have the courage to let go of the convenient life in the city. You have to have enough pioneering spirit to build a house from scratch; You have to be calm and happy-go-lucky, so that you can maintain your love for life for five years, even if you live in a small RV. This childhood experience is unforgettable.
It's no wonder that the author chose
to record this real and beautiful childhood experience in the form of illustrations
, which made us directly feel the beauty and happiness of this family Qi Xin's concerted efforts to do something through the pictures.
The picture book is developed from the perspective of the author's sister. Of course, my sister at that time was just a little girl, and from her eyes, we can easily feel the innocence and curiosity of that child, as well as those interesting little details.
when you open the first page of the picture book, you will see a vast wasteland.
The panoramic view spread across pages
gives us an extremely intuitive visual impact, and the large clearing in the lower right corner is obviously the construction site reserved for this house.
However, as an old reader of Tian Lujia's picture book, I turned to the last page of the picture book for the first time, and sure enough, it was the same big picture, but in the original open space, there was already a small three-story house standing impressively.
This kind of
contrast between the front and back ring pages due to the development of story lines
is one of the most anticipated small surprises every time I read the picture books produced by Tianluo.
In addition, if you are careful enough, it is not difficult to find that in the big picture on the front and back pages, the change of the four seasons makes the originally bleak trees reproduce the lush vitality-
The new life is thus continued
and then the original title page of the picture book is returned, and the scene of the author's family moving from the old house in the city, packing up furniture and loading it into the car is greeted.
What moved me was the author's description of this townhouse. Although it was a small scene, it was enough to give us a glimpse of the whole leopard. By the way, let's get to know the structure of houses in American cities:
Although there are unit high-rise buildings similar to ours in big cities such as new york and Chicago, in most towns, ordinary residential areas are such townhouses with two floors painted in picture books, and usually there is a basement in the houses; And some families with higher income will choose single-family villas, which are similar to the houses built by the author's family, except that the location is in the city, not in the country ~
Admittedly, this is a small detail, but the seriousness of the details allows us to gain different insights when reading picture books, which is also excellent.
Similar details are scattered in the picture books. For example, when the family first came to the open space, the cat that came on the face became a part of the family. In the following picture books, we will be surprised to find that kittens are also in love and have given birth to a litter of kittens. Don't be too cute!
The picture book is a warm watercolor illustration style, with a simple outline of thick lines and a casual and natural graffiti. In a few strokes, warm scenes, vivid characters with different characteristics, are vividly displayed on the paper.
What people like most is the warmth created by
picture books.
Even in the snowstorm, there are still warm yellow car lights that soften the whole picture.
the main line of the story begins with moving, and the small animals that occasionally wander around along the way make us feel the life in the countryside. When their family first came to this clearing, there was nothing but a weed, an old oak tree and an oncoming kitten.
Their family lived in an RV for the time being. After solving the water and electricity problems of the RV, they began to prepare the materials needed to build the house. Only during this period, from Monday to Friday, my father will go to work in the city normally. Only on weekends can the family drive to the sawmill to buy wood, collect stones from the neighbor's ranch and transport piles of sand and gravel to the quarry
When the weather is warm and the ground becomes soft, grandpa comes with an excavator. After a series of operations of digging, shoveling and piling, their new basement is formed
Then, they. It is not difficult to find that the happiness when a family works together is almost overflowing on paper.
When the house frame is firmly erected in the middle of the ground, the family will sit around the campfire, eating, drinking and chatting until the stars shine and owls chirp, which is simply the most vivid interpretation of "happy work".
It's autumn, so we should work harder. We have to install chimneys, roofs, wallboard and windows on the house before winter comes. Although the rain came earlier in winter and the bad weather slowed down their work, it didn't stop
In this way, we followed the story line in the picture book and started indoor drawing design and room decoration. Autumn came and winter came, and the days became shorter and longer. In the busy day and night, my mother got pregnant and gave birth to a new baby.
Finally, the house was built. After a moving party, a family of five moved into a new house neatly.
We often say that a house with love is home.
Like the picture book "Building Our Home", the whole family builds a house together. In the process, some fathers usually go back to work in the city, and only on weekends do they have time to prepare building materials. There is also the embarrassment of living in a small car and the hard work of continuing to build a house in bad weather; It seems that it is difficult for a mother to get pregnant and have children, but with the full cooperation of this family, the sweet attitude towards life presented to us really touched the softest part of our hearts.
The whole family works together to build happiness, which is the best appearance of life.
end
"Part of the map source network,"
I'm @ Chu Xisi reading and painting. Thank you for reading and look forward to your attention. How to discover the nature around you in spring?
Spring has arrived before you know it. Are you attracted by the newly sprouted leaves and flowers? Nature is everywhere, not only in the countryside, but also lurking in the steel jungle around us, as long as we pay attention. So there is such a group of people who, starting from the nature around them, use their own words and brushes to describe the plants, trees, flowers and birds hidden in their lives and record the subtle and touching phenological changes of the year. These nature notes not only give us readers the opportunity to roam in the study, but also inspire us to observe, pay attention to and understand the beauty of nature that may be ignored in our daily life and feel the beautiful wild interest.
In 1996, notes on English countryside
Edith holden translated by Ziyun
Shanghai Translation Publishing House
Edith holden, an English lady, a rural female teacher and an illustrator of children's books who lived more than 1 years ago. In 196, she wore a long Edwardian dress, walked or rode a bicycle through the muddy countryside and changeable weather in alton, Warwick, England, in order to find some painting materials for her students in art school classes every Friday.
With infinite enthusiasm for nature and meticulous observation, this notebook, which records the phenological changes and natural features of the countryside for a whole year and twelve months, was born. The author's writing is delicate and affectionate, and she often attaches proverbs and poems related to the season. Although there are many kinds of flowers, birds and insects in her works, they are not exotic flowers and animals, and many of them are often seen in our lives. For Edith, their beauty is not inferior to smallness and commonness. Take this season in front of us as an example. What about wild peas, buttercups, sorrel, leaf warblers and butterflies? Edith, who was more than a hundred years ago, and our colorful spring in the millennium. The fresh and beautiful illustrations in the notes not only make readers relaxed and happy, but also can be said to be a very vivid guide to animal and plant identification.
local history of hong kong
by ye Lingfeng
commercial press
some time ago, I saw on social media that the world's critically endangered bird, the little sunflower parrot, has bred a huge wild population in hong kong, with more than 2 birds, accounting for 1% of the world's total. They are descendants of a cage of pets released by the British garrison when Japan invaded Hong Kong, and they have survived undisturbed in the local area to this day. The natural friendliness of Hong Kong can be seen from this short story. What most people don't know is that Hong Kong is not only a bustling metropolis, but also a paradise for migratory birds. Every winter, more than 6, migratory birds from northern China and Siberia jelly here, among which the endangered black-faced spoonbill accounts for 25% of the global total.
Ye Lingfeng, who has lived in Hong Kong for most of her life, wrote the local history of Hong Kong more than half a century ago, and wrote another side of Hong Kong from a natural perspective. In the book, he said, "The status of butterflies in Hong Kong in the history of world natural science may be more important than that of Hong Kong business in the history of world business."
The author recorded the birds, animals, insects, fish and some anecdotes and customs in Hong Kong from a brand-new perspective of natural science and folklore, and his knowledge, interest and writing were all conveyed freely in a small chapter, so it was kind and pleasant to read. He focuses on things that are not uncommon in the city-cicada, frog, Shuang Yan, cuckoo, banyan, kapok? Taking the whole year as the time coordinate, from the spring leek in early spring to the rice cake on New Year's Eve, we talk about all things in nature, food, clothing, housing and transportation, customs at the age of four, and leisure in life. The latest simplified edition adds a lot of photos, hand-drawn illustrations and notes, which makes this book more worthy of the name and can make people follow the map.
Notes on Nature
By Ren Zhong
CITIC Publishing House
It's hard to imagine from the title. This is a book focusing on Shanghai and its surroundings. Since 211, Ren Zhong began to take notes on nature, and this book, as she said in the preface, naturally records the community where her home is located, a small piece of wetland not far from home, a path that must be taken to and from work, and a small "wasteland" that is less than 2 square meters every month when she goes to the library. Is it such a small corner of the city, where plants, birds and insects live? It constitutes the whole content of the thick 34 pages of the book.
according to 72 phenology, this book records all kinds of creatures in nature every month in a year, with colorful illustrations drawn by the author, showing how all kinds of creatures rise and fall according to the changes of four seasons, even in the cracks of busy cities. The beauty of nature is changeable and endless. They are hidden in the city and really hidden in front of me. How much beauty is there that we have never discovered?
Four seasons, go slowly —— Beijing Nature Notes
Niangao
Life Bookstore Publishing Co., Ltd.
After participating in a "Nature Notes" group, I gradually began to know the growth cycle of every plant around me, recognize the home of a family of kingfishers by the river in my unit, and know what kind of wind blows in what season, what food will appear and when. And this book is the fruit of her observation and recording for more than three years.
This book can be called the first natural note on plants and phenology in North China all year round. The author recorded more than 1 kinds of the most representative plants in Beijing all the year round from March to February, and showed the plant characteristics and exciting natural world in North China in a detailed and systematic way. From the words and paintings, we can see the author's deep enthusiasm and interest in the nature around him. In her works, from the grass and trees around the city to the unknown wild flowers and weeds in remote Shan Ye, all conform to the internal rhythm of nature, and Luo Zhi has become a rich and fine ecological network.
She not only records the moment when the yellow leaves of ash trees fall on the streets of Beijing, but also climbs the mountains to go to the plants in the mountains when the spring is chilly: "Every year, one week after Qingming Festival, I go to visit the cliff" Three Hermits ",which is my nickname for them. They are Clematis acerifolia, Hedyotis stolonifera and Corydalis Fangshan. There is a reason to call them "cliff" hermits. If you see the place where they grow, the cliff with a vertical face of 9 degrees must admire these plants as much as I do? "