《野獸出沒的地方》是有史以來最著名的兒童讀物之一,但是在它發(fā)行的時候,情況并沒有那么樂觀。 評論家和老師們發(fā)現(xiàn)莫里斯 · 桑達(dá)克的故事---- 一個憤怒的小男孩成為野獸島的國王,對年輕讀者來說簡直太荒誕了---- 它最初被禁止進入圖書館,直到發(fā)現(xiàn)孩子們?yōu)樽约赫业搅诉@本書,并且一遍又一遍地閱讀它,被大人們擔(dān)心的顛覆性的主題所吸引。
Sendak had been working as an illustrator for nearly 20 years by the time Where the Wild Things Are was published in 1963. It tells its story in just 338 words, leaving Sendak's beautifully detailed illustrations to do much of the heavy lifting, making it an ideal book for younger readers. And while many found its themes dark, they make perfect sense when you realise that many of Sendak's family died in the Holocaust, and he himself spent some of his childhood confined to bed with health problems.
1963年《野獸出沒的地方》出版的時候,桑達(dá)克已經(jīng)做了將近20年的插畫師。 它只用338個字講述了它的故事,桑達(dá)克精美詳細(xì)的插圖完成了大部分繁重的工作,使它成為年輕讀者的理想書籍。 雖然很多人發(fā)現(xiàn)它的主題是黑暗的,但當(dāng)你意識到桑達(dá)克的許多家人死于大屠殺,他自己也因為健康問題在床上度過了一些童年時光時,這些主題就完全說得通了。
Sendak described his childhood as "a terrible situation"; it also gave him his love of stories, thanks to the books he read when he was unwell, and also to his father, an inveterate storyteller who would embellish tales from the Torah with inappropriately racy details.
桑達(dá)克將自己的童年描述為“一個可怕的處境” ; 這也給了他對故事的熱愛,感謝他在身體不適時讀的書,也感謝他的父親,一個根深蒂固的故事講述者,他會用不恰當(dāng)?shù)那樯?xì)節(jié)來修飾托拉的故事。
Lesson learned: Illustration isn't just about the pictures; it's also about telling a story. If you can carry off an entire book with barely any words, with the story mostly conveyed through the illustrations, you're on the right track.
經(jīng)驗教訓(xùn): 插圖不僅僅是圖片,它也是一個故事。 如果你幾乎不用任何文字就能讀完整本書,而且故事大部分是通過插圖傳達(dá)的,那么你就走對路了。