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Crane Maiden / Art by Ed Young /Brenda Peterson

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Crane Maiden / Art by Ed Young /Brenda Peterson

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CRANE MAIDEN New gorgeously illustrated digital book for birders of all ages!

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Caldecott Medal-winning author-illustrator Ed Young, best known for his reinterpretations of folktales and legends from his native China, and evocative illustrations rendered in a range of mediums, died September 29 in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. He was 91.

Ed Tse-chun Young was born November 28, 1931 in the coal-mining town of Tianjin, China. He grew up with four siblings in Shanghai where their father was dean of engineering at St. John's University. As a boy, Young was fond of making up stories and was already exhibiting a talent for drawing.

Young immigrated to the U.S. on a student visa in 1951 at age 19, and attended City College in San Francisco and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, initially studying architecture before switching to art. In 1957, he graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and soon after, he moved to New York City to launch a career in advertising, and also began additional art study at Pratt Institute. In his free time, he enjoyed sketching animals at the Central Park Zoo and at other sites around the city.

When Young sought a more expressive direction for his art outside of advertising, a friend suggested he pursue children's book illustration. Legendary Harper & Row editor Ursula Nordstrom encouraged Young on this new career path and offered him a contract to illustrate The Mean Mouse and Other Stories by Janice M. Udry, which was published in 1962. That debut led to many other books, written by a variety of authors.

Young received the first of his two Caldecott Honor awards in 1968 for Jane Yolen's The Emperor and the Kite (World Publishing). In 1978, he began writing his own texts, mostly retellings and adaptations of folk and fairy tales inspired by his Chinese culture and the philosophy of Chinese painting, as well as by his love for animals and the natural world. Young's Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China (Philomel) won the 1990 Caldecott Medal. And in 1993, his Seven Blind Mice (Philomel) was named a Caldecott Honor book.

Whether illustrating his own words or someone else's, Young continually looked for a new challenge in his work. To that end, he experimented with an array of mediums including pencil, ink, pastels, paints, cut- and torn-paper collage, and found objects. He sometimes hid symbols and puzzles in his artwork for readers to find. "Before I am involved with a project I must be moved, and as I try something exciting, I grow," he wrote on his website. "It is my purpose to stimulate growth in the reader as an active participant as well. I feel the story has to be exciting, and a moving experience for a child."

In all, he created more than 100 books for young readers and among his many other accolades were two nominations for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Eric Carle Museum and the Society of Illustrators. At different times over his career, he taught art at the Pratt Institute, Yale University, Naropa Institute, and the University of California at Santa Cruz.

The Chinese martial art and health discipline of t'ai chi ch'uan "had profound influence upon my way of thinking and on the things I do," Young said in a 1968 Something About the Author profile. Young had learned t'ai chi ch'uan in 1964 from a master who was newly arrived in New York City. By 1967, Young had begun to teach the discipline and became director of the Shr Jung T'ai Chi Ch'uan School in New York's Chinatown. He continued as a t'ai chi ch'uan instructor for more than 40 years in Hastings-on-Hudson.

Patricia Lee Gauch, former editorial director of Philomel Books and editor of Lon Po Po and numerous other titles, paid tribute this way: "All the world was Ed's paint box: a scrap of wrapping paper, a brown paper bag, a discarded piece of metal. Nothing was ever 'found' for Ed, every thing, every scrap, was something to be repurposed for art's sake. Side by side with him in his studio, amid his scraps, bags, throwaways, I began to see art everywhere and in everything. But it wasn't art alone; Ed's ideas were attached to his art of whatever texture and story. They spun out from him, embracing humanity itself as he tried, valiantly, stubbornly, to attract children's attention to the power of goodness and what was natural."

Alvina Ling, v-p and editor-in-chief at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, offered this remembrance: "My first opportunity to work with the brilliant Ed Young was on the picture book Wabi Sabi, written by Mark Reibsten. It was a profound experience. Ed's wife Filomena was sick during the creation of the art for Wabi Sabi, and during the chaos of her illness and eventual death, the completed original art somehow went missing-every artist and editor's nightmare! When Ed reemerged to work on the project and discovered that the art was missing-stolen, perhaps- he took it in stride and said, 'I'll do the art again. And I can only promise you that it will be better.' Well, the finished art was indeed better. Wabi Sabi went on to win a New York Times best illustrated award and became a New York Times bestseller. Ed and I worked on four more books together, from the lighthearted and silly Nighttime Ninja written by Barbara DaCosta, to a book about his childhood growing up in wartime Shanghai called The House Baba Built. Another was based on a poem he wrote for his children to reassure them after the death of their mother. Should You Be a River was a book about unconditional love, and we all can take some solace from the words he wrote-Ed is still with us all."

Victoria Rock, founding children's publisher and executive publishing director at Chronicle Books, fondly recalled: "I first met Ed when I was an assistant working for his longtime editor Ann Beneduce. Even as a rookie, I quickly saw that Ed was an Artist, with a capital A, and also a lovely person. Years later, when it was my great pleasure to work with him on Beyond the Great Mountains (Chronicle, 2005), he told me that he had used some scraps of paper that he had saved from books he had worked on with Ann, as a secret nod to our mutual connection. In that little moment, you see both the artist and the human."

And Neal Porter, v-p and publisher of his eponymous imprint at Holiday House, shared a favorite anecdote: "I was lucky to have worked with Ed on three books in the mid-2000s; I wish there could have been more. Spending time with him gave me a re-education in the art and craft of picture book making. One notable exception occurred after I made one of my regular trips to Hastings to retrieve finished artwork, done in his typical collage style. When I returned home and examined the art, I realized that many bits of collage had shaken loose in transit and fallen to the bottom of the envelope, leaving me in the unenviable position of trying to determine where they were meant to go. In time we figured it out, and that was true of working with Ed. No matter what the challenges were, we always figured it out."

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Caldecott Medal-winning author-illustrator Ed Young, best known for his reinterpretations of folktales and legends from his native China, and evocative illustrations rendered in a range of mediums, died September 29 in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. He was 9

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Books by Ed Young and Complete Book Reviews

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Read more about A Path Through Pain: How Faith Deepens And Joy Grows Through What You Would Never Choose and other books by Ed Young

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据 阅读推广人阿甲消 息，华裔绘本作家杨志成于北京时间2023年9月30日夜逝世，终年91岁。

杨志成（Ed Young，1931年11月28日－2023年9月30日）。（图源：杨志成官网）

杨志成出生于天津，祖籍上海，1951年赴美留学，曾三度获得凯迪克奖。杨志成将中国文化与西方文化相融合，他曾说："我参与绘本工作，一方面是想要引介中国故事，我们有太多好故事了！另一方面，以一个异乡人的身份来到美国，我也希望多理解西方故事，好拓展我自己的眼光和表现形式。"

从天津到上海、香港，再到美国，杨志成一生随着时代变动穿梭在不同地域和文化之间。其创作与经历也密切相关，置身东西之间，杨志成寻找着平衡之道。某种意义上，他的艺术与人生也是一部中国近代史。下面刊发一篇旧文以作纪念，原文标题为《 华裔绘本家杨志成，一个特殊历史情境下诞生的人》。

采写 | 新京报特约记者 曾梦龙

今年88岁的杨志成是著名的美籍华裔绘本家。他创作过约100部绘本作品，如《公主的风筝》《狼婆婆》《七只瞎老鼠》等，获誉无数，包括美国童书界最高奖项凯迪克奖的一次金奖和两次荣誉奖、美国插画家协会授予的终身成就奖、两度被提名国际安徒生奖、作品入选《纽约时报》十佳绘本等。

在美国，童书历史学家伦纳德.S.马库斯 （Leonard.S.Marcus） 认为，一位华人能被美国童书出版界和读者接纳、尊重，成就卓然，太不容易了。威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的童书专家凯瑟琳·T·霍玲 （Kathleen.T.Horning） 称："不论选取何种媒材和风格，杨志成对他插画的每一本图画书都带着深度的自然与人道关怀。一粒沙中见世界，一朵花中见天堂。"

在中国，儿童阅读推广人、译者阿甲评价道："他实际上是把中国最好的东西以某种世界性语言，或者西方人能够接受的语言、当代艺术的语言，重新梳理一遍，以某种方式呈现，对整个世界文化是有某种特殊贡献的。如果一定要说他整个创作在做什么尝试，我觉得可能叫作平衡之道。"

从天津到上海、香港，再到美国，杨志成一生随着时代变动穿梭在不同地域和文化之间。其创作与经历也密切相关，他自称"在东方的时候学西方，在西方的时候学东方"。置身东西之间，杨志成寻找着平衡之道。某种意义上，他的艺术与人生也是一部中国近代史。

"他是很特殊的情境下诞生的一个人物，生平无法复制。"阿甲说。

杨志成（Ed Young），美籍华裔插画家。1931年出生于中国天津，在上海长大，后赴香港和美国求学、定居。毕业于伊利诺伊州立大学建筑系，后转到洛杉矶艺术学院学习广告设计。其插画具有浓厚的中国风味，曾三度获得美国儿童文学界最高荣誉凯迪克奖。

-

1931年，杨志成出生于天津。那一年，九一八事变爆发，时局动荡，他在3岁时随家人搬到上海，度过童年和青少年。1948年，中国处于内战中，杨志成去了香港念书。

杨志成觉得，从小学到中学，自己就是一个"混"字。"没有念书，及格就行。上海玩，香港玩，成绩表不能见人，后来在香港申请大学也没有太多希望。"

1951年，杨志成赴美留学。因为父母都在上海，临走前，他在香港的监护人舅舅叫他去办公室，对他说："你以前过了19年，没有好好学。现在你不能靠别人了，到了美国，要靠你自己。因为我们和你断了，在美国就你一个人。这一笔钱给你，以后就没有了。这是你哥哥姐姐没有用的钱给你用。还有一件事，你到美国以后，要负责个人事情，你是中国人，我们不能去美国，你以后做的事情是代替我们做。如果是不好的事情，你把这条路给断了。"

"这句话在我'志成'下面种下种子，那就是我要读书。"杨志成说。

杨志成有一个哥哥、一个弟弟、两个姐姐。受父亲影响，杨家三兄弟学的都是建筑和工程，所以他最先在美国就读于伊利诺伊州立大学建筑系。

杨志成的父亲杨宽麟是中国第一代建筑结构工程设计学家，早年毕业于圣约翰大学文学院，20岁时赴美留学，在密歇根大学获学士和硕士学位，1917年回国。后在1920年开办华启工程司，这是中国人自己创立的最早以结构设计为主的事务所之一。他参与设计的建筑包括上海的美琪大戏院、大新百货公司、南洋兄弟烟草公司，北京的王府井百货大楼、新侨饭店等，指导修建的工程还有中国人民革命军事博物馆、北京工人体育场等。

简单考据，杨宽麟的家世很有意思。他的父亲杨少亭是一名牧师，母亲是美国圣公会首位华人牧师黄光彩的女儿，姨母黄素娥是执掌圣约翰大学52年的校长卜舫济的妻子。哈佛大学费正清中国研究中心研究员罗元旭曾写过一本书《东成西就》，研究上海七个华人基督教家族。他们创建了圣约翰大学、商务印书馆、中华基督教青年会、中国红十字会等多家机构，成为百年来中西交流的桥梁，而黄光彩牧师及其后人就是罗元旭写的第一个家族。

所以，受家庭影响，杨志成像林语堂一样从小接受的是西学教育，英文非常好，但没有国学根底。不过最后，他也和林语堂一样，成为中西文化交流的使者。

当时，杨志成在美国学了两年建筑后，觉得自己喜欢艺术，所以转入了加州艺术中心设计学院，毕业后，他在纽约从事广告设计，但觉得"没太大意思"，卖的东西不是自己喜欢的。平常，他喜欢去纽约中央公园画动物素描，也热衷画纽约各种各样的老建筑，"纽约城是我的大学"。

当时，被誉为"20世纪美国童书界最伟大的编辑""儿童文学界的麦克斯·珀金斯"的厄苏拉·诺德斯特姆 （Ursula Nordstrom） 看过杨志成的画后，给了一部贾尼思·梅·伍德里 （Janice May Udry） 的书稿。但是，杨志成回绝了这本书。因为他觉得动物有动物的生活和尊严，不应该用动物讲人的故事。厄苏拉让他先把书带回去再想想。经过朋友相劝，既然他不喜欢没尊严的动物，那可以按照他的心思画他认为有尊严的。他思考后，认为这也是学习如何制作童书的一个方法，所以最后接了这部书。

也是从那时起，杨志成对中国文化的了解越来越深，作品中的中国味道越来越浓。

他在接受台湾和英出版社采访时曾说："我的国画老师对我有相当大的影响，他常常为我指点迷津，帮助我参透那些自己无法明了或看不清的事理。有一回我们相约去散步，他便要我留意树梢上窜冒出来的绿芽，看看树枝上的'气'。当时我不明白他话中的意思，也看不见他所谓的'气'。于是他要我再仔细看，当我静下来潜心端看的时候，仿佛真的体会到他话中的意涵。造成一株树生成的因素很多，包括树的成长方式、枝叶的伸展、风、树根、甚至树旁的石头和人类，而树的心灵都是由这些'天地人'的因素造就出来的。我在艺术学院里从未听闻这些事，因此觉得中国人对自然和事物的观点特别深奥。根据我国画老师的说法，我必须将自己化身为一株树，才能领略和体验树的成长，因为每一个生命都有一段属于他自己的故事。"

《叶限：中国的"灰姑娘"故事》，［美］路易·爱玲 著，［美］杨志成 绘，常立 译，蒲蒲兰绘本馆出品，新世纪出版社，2019年4月版。

1968年，在为童书画了6年插图后，37岁的杨志成凭借《公主的风筝》获得凯迪克奖的荣誉奖。

这本书的插画采用中国民间剪纸技法，并像中国画一样大量留白。故事讲述在古代中国，有一个公主叫小小，在她父皇眼中，她的四个哥哥就像太阳，三个姐姐就像月亮，而小小就像一颗小不点的星星，因此父皇常常忽视她。可是，当皇帝被绑架，哥哥姐姐们全都束手无策时，只有小小一个人勇敢地追了过去，成功用风筝救出她的父皇。

"做《公主的风筝》这本书时，中美还没有建立外交关系。写书的是美国人，他写的算是民间故事，可是他对中国民间也没有什么研究。他是一个很会讲故事的人，用中国背景讲了个中国故事，但不是中国人灵魂里出来的故事。我对这个故事不反感，因为讲的故事是一个全世界的故事，可是我觉得这个故事我能学到什么东西？从民间的艺术里面找到剪纸？我想，剪纸我从来没做过，也没学过，趁这机会学剪纸。怎么剪？自己剪。剪了，坏了，又剪一个。坏了，又剪一个。纸是用什么纸？刀是用什么刀？颜色是用什么颜色？怎么切？怎么做？结果不知道画了多少次，后来成功了，觉得有点像，所以我就把它做了一本书。"

"还有一点，中国民间故事里边，插图画都很古板，都是一种静的状态，不是活的。而这本书像风筝一样，是在天上飞的，是活的。这对我是一个难题，因为我要从正宗中国艺术里找一个活的东西。在这本书里，我要把风筝画得可以在天上飞起来，要在静里面找活。做完了以后，我觉得让它活起来了。"杨志成说。

得到凯迪克奖后，杨志成对自己的创作多了一点信心，"在这时候已经得到这么高的奖，我觉得有资格能够再学多一点，所以我放心学别的东西，就是从这一本开始的"。

《公主的风筝》内文图。

杨志成爱说自己"基础不够"，喜欢学习，所以他的作品没有固定风格，整个创作生涯是一个不断突破的过程。《公主的风筝》之后，他就不再完全用剪纸技法做书，开始尝试用铅笔画。

题材上也是如此。"我最开始的一本书是关于动物的，所有编辑都喜欢你的书，让你画动物的故事。我变成一个只能画动物的画家。我说，我不是专门画动物的，我喜欢的东西特别多。我学建筑，我喜欢画房子。为什么单单画动物呢？我就画了一个房子的故事。他们总是给我一个网，把我抓在这里。我喜欢自由，我不是这个，也不是那个，我要画这个！"

"当然，不能怪他们，他们不知道我会画什么。我的条件就是，你要给我全部自由，我要怎么画就怎么画。他们信任我，那么我就可以自由地选用材料。所以我的每一本书都会突破另外一本书，每做一样东西，总是学到一种艺术。到了一个程度，不能再上去的时候，就成功了。"

杨志成的工作方法很有趣。据说他每天去画室，同一个故事，先用铅笔画，再用水彩画，或剪纸，或拼贴，以不同媒介、不同表达方式排成一排，让每页连接成故事。就如同一家人，画的构图、排序，自有其韵律。"如果这个故事值得讲，我要找到最好的方法。"

1990年代，杨志成迎来创作的一个高峰。1990年，他的《狼婆婆》 （Lon Po Po） 获得凯迪克奖金奖。两年后，《七只瞎老鼠》 （Seven Blind Mice） 获得凯迪克奖荣誉奖。

《狼婆婆》采用中国画中的粉笔渲染和具有东方审美情趣的"屏风式"构图，讲的是很久以前，每当妈妈出门之后，狼婆婆就会来敲门，阿珊、阿桃和宝珠最后智取狼婆婆的故事。《七只瞎老鼠》则采用剪纸和拼贴，并用大范围的黑色分割空间。故事改写自印度民间故事"盲人摸象",讲述七只瞎老鼠在池塘边遇到一个怪东西，谁也不知道那是什么。于是每一天，不同的老鼠轮流去"观察"，并回来报告同伴他们的发现，但是每一次的答案都不让人满意。最后一天，轮到白老鼠去了。白老鼠从怪东西的上下左右全跑了一遍，最后才下了一个结论，这个怪东西是一头大象。

两本书都有关东方，在西方讲述东方的他获得美国童书界的更多认可。相比之前的作品，他不仅在绘画风格上有所突破，也成为用文字讲故事的人，不再只是插画家。

后来，他又讲述了许多东方故事，比如中国的《生肖鼠的故事》《美猴王孙悟空》《塞翁失马》《叶限》《心之声》，日本的《侘寂》《海啸》，尼泊尔的《雪山之虎》等。值得一提的是，在《心之声》中，他以图画的方式还原中国象形文字的内涵，所有部首都和"心"有关，曾希望能解释完《康熙字典》里的214个偏旁部首。另外，他的个人网站也以中国象形文字作为导航。

中国文人画中字画同体的观念也影响了他的创作。在接受《出版人周刊》采访时，他说："一幅传统的中国文人画若没有题字，往往便失去了重心。文与图是相辅相成的。文字能传达的意涵，有时是图画永远无法传递的，反之亦然。文与图共存时，便建构了整体的阅读经验基础。"

但是，如果说杨志成只是一个在西方讲述东方的艺术家，那也没有完整理解他。其实，他不仅会采用东方技法，讲述东方故事，也会融合西方艺术，讲述西方故事。比如近些年他喜欢拼贴，称灵感来自亨利·马蒂斯 （Henri Matisse） ；李欧·李奥尼 （Leo Lionni） 启发过他创作《七只瞎老鼠》；艾尔·帕克 （Al Parker） 和玛丽·卡萨特 （Mary Cassatt） 也影响过他的插画。

这种穿梭在东西之间，交融多元文化，寻求背后普世价值观念，也许正是杨志成受到国际认可的原因。

他曾说："我参与绘本工作，一方面是想要引介中国故事，我们有太多好故事了！另一方面，以一个异乡人的身份来到美国，我也希望多理解西方故事，好拓展我自己的眼光和表现形式。每次我投入一个异域文化故事，我都从中受益匪浅。"

不过，多元文化融合也不是件容易的事情，可能会遭遇误解。比如《七只瞎老鼠》在美国出版后，受到一些批评，比如为什么第七只老鼠是白老鼠，不是黑老鼠？这是不是影射美国的黑人和白人的种族问题？杨志成回应称，其实不是为了联想，是为了光线。太阳光是白的，放大镜一来，七个颜色就出来了。你不能用一种眼光来看故事的思路。他还说，外国老鼠有雌雄，幸好英文版的故事里六只老鼠是男的，最后发现大象的老鼠是女的。如果六只老鼠是女的，最后发现大象的老鼠是男的，估计问题就大了。

事实上，他画的时候根本没考虑性别、种族之类的问题。所以很多时候，他觉得"有问题的不是这个故事，是人自己"。

《雪山之虎》，[美]罗伯特·伯利 著、杨志成 绘，阿甲 译，蒲蒲兰绘本馆出品，新世纪出版社，2019年4月版。

2012年，杨志成来到北京宣传新书《月熊》，阿甲也第一次见到了他。"给我印象最深刻的是我们吃饭聊天的时候，他忍不住讲起他小时候在上海，他爸爸造的房子。我当时都听傻了。"阿甲说。

"他的爸爸给他们一家人建了一个房子，这个房子居然可以扛炸弹。最精彩的是，他爸爸当时居然给他们在房子旁边建了一个游泳池，那是上海第二个私人拥有的游泳池。其实以他们家的财力没有办法支撑游泳池运作，他爸爸又采取俱乐部的方式把那些海归们拉在一起，几家人一起运营。他们家不出钱，但是共同维护。他们一家人，尤其是几个孩子身体都特别好，一天到晚，能游水的时候就游水，不能游水的时候就在那个地方骑车疯跑，就是那样一种童年。挺让人惊讶。而且他们一家人虽然生活在上海，平常主要跟父亲说的都是英语，其次是上海话。我以前没有想象过有这样的家庭。"

杨志成生活时的上海是个特殊的历史时期，先后经历日本占领和国民党统治，是"一种很特定的情景之下的童年"，"他的父亲是一个非常伟大的人，包括杨宽麟先生的家族对中国其实是有很大影响的，只不过一般人不大提及"。阿甲那次听说杨志成以这段经历创作过绘本《爸爸造的房子》后，立马买了英文版，觉得"太有意思了"，之后翻译了这本书。

杨志成也对我们讲起这本书的故事："那本书做了两年多。因为题材不够，我要把爸爸的那个房子的实际结构 （做出来） ，没有图案，要自己想象。我自己画出来的，不对，还是我两个兄弟帮我做的，因为他们是工程师，尺寸什么的比较拿手。后来亲戚们有照片都寄给我，收集的材料很多，所以做了很长时间，越做又有趣，觉得把自己从前的故事在回忆里边提出来了，好像又活了一辈子。"

他还谈起父母的影响："我母亲在艺术上特别有眼光，家里的东西都是她设计的。我父亲那时做教员，在大学教书，没有钱，我母亲就各个地方挣钱做东西卖，补贴家用。那时家里非常辛苦，我们5个孩子要成长，吃东西都不够。家里边都要添东西，饭没有，就是红薯什么的加在里面，多吃一点。我们孩子也不知道，只知道家里东西不够吃。所以这是我母亲的特点，她在艺术这方面多才，什么都会做。"

"我母亲一直担忧我将来，不懂我到底是怎么一棵树。她说，你总是跟人不一样，我不知道你以后怎么办？"相比母亲，"我父亲很懂孩子，他是教书的，每个人都有每个人的 （天才） ，所以这一方面我是在他身上得到的。"

2019年12月，时隔17年，杨志成回到上海，经过一番周折，在惇信路 （现为武夷路） 找到了爸爸造的老房子，门上竟还保留着代表杨家的字母"Y"的设计，也去爸爸曾经工作过的圣约翰大学 （现址在华东政法大学） 看了看。

"美国有一个故事，一个叫瑞普·凡·温克尔的人出去打猎，到了一个树林里，看见一群小人有胡子，像白雪公主里的那种小矮人，戴着长帽。他从来没看见过这种人。他们有他们的运动，打球，非常喜欢喝酒。他跟他们喝了酒，睡着了。醒来，他不知道在什么地方，醉的地方已经长了很多树木。他不知道过了多少时间才醒过来，看到自己的枪锈烂了，狗也不见了。他回家，发现家也变了，乡村的人都不认识。他就问人。他说，我从前是从这个村庄出来的，不知道你们见过门口这家人吗？那个人说，哦，这个家已经没有什么人了，都过去了。他说，我是去打猎刚回来。那个人说，是有一个人没有回来。"

《爸爸造的房子》内文图。

"那个故事就是我回到上海的故事。回到上海，看老家，看圣约翰大学，变得不认识。人都变了。街道都是市中心，就在我的房子的地方，都造满了。从前一个房子是单独的，是郊外，现在都装满了。大门也看不见，边上都是东西。所以这是我一个感觉，已经不是以前了，都是过去的事情。"

除了回上海，杨志成这次也回到北京，宣传他的新书《叶限》和《雪山之虎》，同时探亲。在一场讲座中，杨志成坐在瑜伽球上回忆了《叶限》的创作过程。当时，他需要研究苗族，包括服装、头发、鞋子等，所以到处收集资料。因为那时北京的展览会不能拍照，他的嫂子钱媛 （钱锺书和杨绛的女儿） 就凭借记忆画了苗族的服饰寄给他。

杨志成回忆，钱家帮了他很多忙。"她跟我有相同的地方。她是读书人，写诗。她从前读书也不见得好，所以很同情我，给我一个绰号是'黑羊'，就是白羊里有只黑羊。所以我给她写信，有时会画一只黑羊。钱媛他们一家对我很有好感。钱老师给我几部书，都是白的，让我画画，很器重我。我做书，有许多是中国题材，都是钱先生帮我。有时候说得不对，他会写信。比如这是这个朝代，穿这个衣服不对。他们有他们的基础，我没有基础，所以有时候他就指点我。"

"我后来出一本书是《龙生九子》。《龙生九子》的原文是钱媛给我的。钱媛看有地方可以帮我的，她会寄给我。她说，Ed，你看看，这个很有意义。我一直摆在那个地方没有做。后来她'过去'以后，我就看《龙生九子》，我说这太有意思。龙的九个孩子有九个性情，每一条龙给它一个才能。有了才能，它就做它最喜欢做的事情，就是家教了。"

杨志成称，未来他会在自己的100部作品中，挑选13本左右最具突破性的绘本，讲述背后的故事。而且和之前的绘本不同，这本书会在中国率先出版。

活了快90年，他说一生最大的遗憾是"世间有太多东西要发现！""我经常想为什么上天给我们这么多去学习，但是我没有多少时间去实现。"

他觉得，人大概分两类，一类靠的是"心"，一类靠的是"脑"。他是靠"心"的人，无论是创作还是人生，他都听从内心。某种意义上，他也认为这是"命"。

《雪山之虎》内文图。

在采访过程中，服务生端来一杯咖啡，杨志成看到咖啡上有两颗"心"形的拉花，马上对旁边的编辑说："这是一个很好的画，你把它照下来。"放了一会儿，最后喝前，他还不忘提醒编辑："你照片拍了吗？"

心和灵魂相关。在他看来，所谓好的绘本，"一句话，每一个故事有一个灵魂，没有灵魂的书不用谈了，你能够抓到那个灵魂就是好书"。但是，抓到灵魂的书可能并不为大众所热爱。阿甲称，杨志成在美国不是特别主流，但很多人都说了不起。因为他真的是在追求一种艺术，追求一种道，好像不是太迁就大众。有的老外真的受不了他，但喜欢的人非常喜欢。这点比较像同为华裔画家的陈志勇，大众读者不是特别能够欣赏，但专业画家和评论圈里认可比较多。

不过，阿甲认为，杨志成找到了自己的平衡。"如果孩子读不懂，不喜欢怎么办，那也就由它去吧。艺术家就是这样一种气质。为什么说平衡？如果一个艺术家这么干，怎么过日子？他卖的插画是给普通读者看的，而且还是小孩看的，但杨志成做到了。他一辈子都在追求，都快90岁了，还在干这种事情。他还能干，还能够挣到钱来干，人家还给了他名誉、这个行当中的特殊地位，然后他还可以肆无忌惮地干。这就是他人生的平衡之道做得特别好。"

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杨志成：一个特殊历史情境下诞生的人｜纪念

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横跨半个世纪的酷老头，在西方用中国的方式讲述故事_杨志成_杨先生_创作

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横跨半个世纪的酷老头，在西方用中国的方式讲述故事
"我在东方学西方，在西方学东方。"置身东西之间，一座世界了解中国文化的桥梁。
在旅居国外的华裔绘本创作者中，杨志成无疑是最负盛名的大家，他创作了百本绘本，创作常被誉为"在西方讲中国故事"，并三度荣获代表绘本最高荣誉的凯迪克大奖，两度获得安徒生国际大奖的提名。他的多部重要作品《七只瞎老鼠》《狼婆婆》《叶限》《雪山之虎》都已引进出版，并且在国内拥有无数粉丝。

杨志成（Ed Young），美籍华裔插画家。1931年出生于中国天津，在上海长大，后赴香港和美国求学、定居。毕业于伊利诺伊州立大学建筑系，后转到洛杉矶艺术学院学习广告设计。其插画具有浓厚的中国风味，曾三度获得美国儿童文学界最高荣誉凯迪克奖。

杨志成以往的作品都是先出英文版之后再引进到国内，而这一次《小树的话》选择率先在国内出版，其个人也许也是没有想到的。这个故事其创作灵感源于人生感悟，成型于回国探亲之旅。

对于这本书的态度杨先生认为每一本书的进展都不可预测，就像一个个人生。我们有限之躯，只能全力做好手上的事，而此时之功满足，就会敲开下一个愿景的门。

《小树的话》
关于每本书都有历史背景， 都有故事背后的故事...
1931年，杨志成出生于天津。那一年，九一八事变爆发，时局动荡，3岁时移居上海，直到17岁时前往香港。在上海时，因为买不起租界的房子，就租了一块地，由杨志成的父亲亲自设计、建造了一栋小楼，条件是二十年后地皮和房子都归地主所有。为什么会谈成这个条件呢？因为地皮的主人知道，这所房子一定会用100年而且不会倒的，是可以传世的。因为，杨志成的父亲，是杨宽麟。

杨宽麟是中国第一代建筑结构工程设计大师，经他设计的建筑包括：天津中原百货公司大楼，沈阳火车站、上海大陆银行大楼、无锡的申新纱厂等。还主持设计了北京王府井百货大楼、和平宾馆等，军事博物馆、北京工人体育场等建筑也参与指导设计。

《爸爸造的房子》

"Y"，代表YANG；现位于上海武夷路

后来，1951年，杨志成赴美留学。因为父母都在上海，临走前，他在香港的家属对他说："你以前过了19年，没有好好学。现在你不能靠别人了，到了美国，要靠你自己。因为我们和你断了，在美国就你一个人。这一笔钱给你，以后就没有了。这是你哥哥姐姐没有用的钱给你用。还有一件事，你到美国以后，要负责个人事情，你是中国人，我们不能去美国，你以后做的事情是代替我们做。如果是不好的事情，你把这条路给断了。"

到了国外后先是子承父业学建筑，后来发现自己更爱艺术，"尤其是对动物的兴趣，这也为我后来进入童书创作打开了一扇门。"那个时候，杨先生是有那么一点点彷徨的，做一名设计师怎么样才能让自己过得更有价值更有意义？后来爸爸给他寄了一封信，有段话内容是--
生命不可能有真富足和真意义，除非你与他人共同分享，人生的价值不在你为自己成就几何，而在你为他人成就几何。 我在东方学西方，到了西方才开始学东方
每说到自己的艺术创作，杨志成都会提及一位恩师--郑曼青。这位精通诗、书、画、拳、医的"五绝老人"不仅医好了杨志成久治不愈的膝盖伤，还带给他东方哲学启蒙。比如一起散步时，他会启发杨志成潜心端看树枝上的"气"，那冒出的新芽，枝叶生长的方向，遒劲的老根，树间的清风，乃至周遭的石头和路人，这些"天地人"都构成了东方哲学里的"气"。老师教杨志成必须将自己化身为一棵树，才能领略这"天地人合一"，他说，你有这么好的中文名字，为什么不用？"杨"，就是一棵树在阳光中生长。

在杨志成先生身上有东西文化碰撞的影子，他的作品充满艺术性，几乎每一本都不同，可以说，感觉他一直在追随着自己的心。

杨志成的创作常常被巧妙地诠释为"在西方表达东方"。他在中国受到了东方文化的熏陶，又在美国生活多年，对西方艺术有了很深的理解。于是，他博取众家之长，在创作中融合东西方艺术，形成了独特的杨氏风格。他创作的图画书中，取材于中国传统故事的有：《促织》《田螺姑娘》《叶限》《父子骑驴》《塞翁失马》等等，还有其最为知名的作品就是他自写自画的处女作《狼婆婆》，这个中国版的"小红帽"为他摘取了1990年美国最高的图画书荣誉-凯迪克金牌奖。

《叶限》（1982年）出版，文字作者路易·爱玲也是先从她祖母那里听来而后记录，而杨先生为了创作这个故事也曾到中国西南地区采风。
关于新作
2019年冬，杨先生抵达国内，也正是这次归乡之旅，萌生出《小树的话》。

19年回国探亲拍摄

别看杨先生当时已是88岁高龄，但当车刚停稳时，已站立起来，车门一开立马奔向童年的精神家园，双手紧紧抓住了栏杆："是它，the house baba built（爸爸造的房子）！"

他一边手捧自己的作品《爸爸造的房子》，一边在故居旧址回忆往昔。

在经历过人生的风雨起落后，在父亲建造的老房子前，老人对生命仿佛有了更深的体会。他说" 这次回国探亲前，一位相识四十年的老友去世了，我又一次面对了生与死的课题。 "友人的故事也是这本书的原型。

话说杨志成与家人的情感表达是内敛的，无论是与手足，还是与父母。他曾在采访中提到一件往事。"这是一个惊奇的事情。因为我二十多年没看见母亲，回国我不知道什么感觉，也不知道我母亲会有什么感觉。电影里看人家二十年没见，哭哭笑笑。那时我坐飞机回来，接飞机都不容易，家里没车子，（也）没有计程车，坐公共汽车从飞机场回到家。公共汽车站在四合院外边，离家其实很近。我母亲那时也七十多岁了，她在公共汽车站等我。我是黑暗的。她就到我身边。我家里叫我Ed。她说，Ed，你晚饭吃了没有？我说，吃过了，可是都是吃的飞机上的东西。她说，我做了稀饭，有皮蛋、肉松，你今天晚上吃一点。那么，她搀着我的手，我们就一路上走回去。好像前一天刚刚走，这一天回来，根本没有兴奋什么，好像没有出门过。"

而后，没想到友人Jano Cohen曾在生日之时赠送的一张照片，也给予了杨先生创作的灵感。或许在这张图片里，杨先生看到了过去的自己，看到了母亲，看到了爱人，想到了自己的老师...

树-照片-Jano Cohen摄影

生命中的平稳往往是偶然的，是幸运的，唯一的不变是变化本身，如何面对变化，是每一个人所必须面对的人生课题。也许正如杨先生所言，舔舐伤口之后，继续前行，这或许便是生命的真谛。

后来，在编辑和杨先生后续进行本故事的邮件沟通时，杨先生再一次另我们感觉到这个老头很酷！

现已90岁的老先生，操作电脑电子设备不输任何人，消息常是秒回，包括绘本的用色、尺寸、设计，让我们一点都没有感觉到相隔两地的时差的存在。

当收到杨先生发来《小树的话》的画稿时，眼前的画稿跟想象中的完全不同，没有像其他作品一样有色彩有很多的细节呈现，只是通过用炭笔画出了故事内容。

《小树的话》分镜草图

于是编辑马上给杨老先生写邮件，小心翼翼地问他这是否终稿，是否还会上色...
"Finished。"
后来也证实了团队的猜测，他说："创作这本书最重要的是处理作者和读者之间的情感，细节只会分散而不是增强其情绪。"这也是为什么他选择用炭笔来画这个故事的原因，不使用颜色，不去刻画过多的细节，用最朴素的绘画工具来创作这个故事。

《小树的话》内页

炭笔是画素描、速写的常用工具，以速写居多。炭笔的主要原材料是木炭粉， 木炭是木材经过不完全燃烧产生的。 相对于铅笔，炭笔画的线条更涩，不反光，线条力度感较强，且能皴擦出不同的肌理效果。

在纸张的选择上，如果把这本书理解为一棵树，护封就像是这棵树的树皮一样保护着书籍。选用的是有一定厚度和韧度的特种纸-- 树纹纸， 树纹肌理的纸张带来的手感更能让各位身临其境。

全文利用黑白两色讲述人生生死课题，后来通过和杨先生的讨论，最终在三个备选颜色里选中了专色124C号，希望读者在收到这本书的时候，能体会到透过树叶间隙洒在主人公阿雅身上阳光释放出来的暖意和希望。这也是杨先生心目中最接近阳光的颜色。

对于书籍上的各种细微细节，杨先生也绝不含糊。会精细地建议我们，如何才是最好的。

杨先生回复有关"阳光的颜色"选择

这就是杨志成，和他的故事。

也或许会看到你的故事。或许读罢会如主人公一般，对生生不息的大世界满怀感恩之情。
小树的话
1 阿雅的妈妈去世了。她难过极了，独自一人到小树林里漫步。想念妈妈的她失声痛哭，却听到一个声音："你为什么哭啊？"原来，是一棵小树在对她说话。华裔智者的人生感悟、智慧箴言，在简洁的故事中娓娓道来，一同探索生命的真谛......

2 《小树的话》是华裔绘本大师杨志成先生在国内出版的第一部原创绘本。其创作灵感源于人生感悟，成型于回国探亲之旅。故事中，阿雅这个人有他的两个女儿和友人女儿的身影，其心路更是体现了他本人对逝去亲人的思念与对生命的大彻大悟。

《小树的话》已在摩点上线

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横跨半个世纪的酷老头，在西方用中国的方式讲述故事_杨志成_杨先生_创作

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横跨半个世纪的酷老头，在西方用中国的方式讲述故事 "我在东方学西方，在西方学东方。" 置身东西之间，一座世界了解中国文化的桥梁。 ...

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11月繪本大師》鴻飛哪復計東西：楊志成（Ed Young）的圖畫書創作之路 | Openbook閱讀誌

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2009年7月，曾以《狼婆婆》（）一書贏得凱迪克金牌獎，以《公主的風箏》（ The Emperor and the Kite）和《七隻瞎老鼠》（ Seven Blind Mice ）兩度獲得凱迪克銀牌獎，並兩次提名國際安徒生大獎的Ed Young楊志成，應豐子愷兒童圖畫書獎之邀，赴香港擔任第一屆頒獎典禮的主講嘉賓。

與會時，他從港島眺望對岸的九龍島，想起了弟媳錢媛曾經和他說過「龍生九子」的故事，傳說這就是九龍地名的由來。看著維多利亞港璀璨的燈火，楊志成更想起了1948年時，他以難民的身分，和姐姐、弟弟由上海搭上了往香港的瑞士貨輪。那是他初次離家遠行，17歲的青春少年，對於未知的旅程，心情既忐忑又興奮，那時還不知道香港會是他人生的分水嶺。

楊志成於1931年11月28日出生在中國天津市，就在東北剛剛爆發「九一八事變」之後。隨著時局愈發動盪不安，這個生於多事之秋的小孩，3歲時和家人向南遷移至上海。雖然中日戰爭的烽煙四起，楊志成的童年幸運地在這個東西文化薈萃的大都會中平安度過。

戰時的物資極其困窘，飢餓的感覺成為終身的記憶，但楊家五個兄弟姊妹的心靈卻是富足的，父母親樂觀溫暖的個性，給予孩子們莫大的支持和照護。

楊志成的父親是中國近代著名的建築工程師楊寬麟，成長於傳教士氣息濃厚的家庭，自幼即接受中西合璧的教育。楊志成7歲時，父親自美國留學歸來，在上海聖約翰大學工學院任教。因為買不起租界的房子，楊寬麟在郊區租了一塊地，自己設計建造了一幢小樓，為家人打造安全的堡壘。

楊志成在80歲時創作的《爸爸建的房子：一位藝術家在中國的童年記憶》（ The House Baba Built - An Artist's Childhood in China ）一書，將老照片融入拼貼畫裡，記錄了那棟如方舟般神奇的房子，以及在其間充滿歡笑、多采多姿的家庭生活。

書中，楊志成回憶起爸爸為他們建的游泳池和蹺蹺板，春天養的蠶寶寶，在充滿蟬聲的夏天鬥蟋蟀，還有來避亂的親友，以及分租房子的英國家庭、流亡的猶太夫妻......每一個片段都是閃閃亮亮的記憶。

為這些美好記憶敷上金粉的，還有父親說故事的魔力。楊寬麟博學多聞，信手拈來的素材，都能講述得淋漓酣暢。即使在日軍空襲的威脅下，他依然在每天晚餐後，為孩子們說一個個經典故事，而且不時穿插他自己發想的情節。年幼的楊志成分不清故事的由來，他就像聆聽一千零一夜的傳奇般，為之目眩神迷。

故事的種子播在楊志成的心田，令他最感動的是一則關於王子和一隻燕子的故事。直到1971年，在偶然的機緣下，楊志成才知道這是王爾德的名著《快樂王子》。自從7歲聽父親說這個故事起，他一直以為這是父親即興的創作。對父親充滿孺慕之情的楊志成，立刻動手畫下這個故事的插圖，直到1989年才成書問世。這段期間，他前後畫了數個版本，是他創作生涯中經營最久的一部作品。

楊志成幼年體弱多病，加上個性沉默寡言，手足因此戲稱他是個「啞子」。和秀異的哥哥相較，他的學業表現相形失色。他喜歡靜靜獨處，縱情任想像力奔馳，那是他最快樂的時候。在楊志成編織的白日夢裡，他是個勇敢的英雄，也是神奇的魔術師，內心無法言說的熾熱情感，藉著塗鴉和繪畫宣洩。父親看出楊志成早慧的藝術天份，鼓勵他向這個方向發展。

於是1951年高中畢業之後，楊志成的生命之舟航向了舊金山，承父命負笈美國修習建築。楊寬麟認為建築結合了工學與美學，應該能讓楊志成發揮藝術的才能，期待他日後學成歸國，能與父兄一起經營建築事務所。美國全然不同的教育方式，深深震撼了含蓄內斂的楊志成，他不僅專注於學業，也漸漸打開心門，在異國的文化中，從頭學習溝通和說話。

1953年，楊志成參加伊利諾大學足球賽徽章設計比賽，並獲得首獎，開始體悟到，建築並不是自己真心想要的。他決定聽從內心追求藝術的渴望，於是鼓起勇氣帶著微薄的獎金，飛到洛杉磯改讀洛城藝術學院的廣告設計系，實現成為藝術家的夢想。這是個被家族視為不切實際的決定，又恰值中美兩國因越戰而切斷邦交，楊志成因此失去了經濟的支援，只能靠著打零工，半工半讀完成學業。直到1978年，他才得以與家人重聚。

1957年楊志成自大學畢業，初生之犢帶著僅有的25元美金，前往紐約的廣告公司工作。他並不喜歡像推銷肥皂、影片這類商業設計的工作內容，他一直在尋找對他來說有意義的東西。什麼才是自己安身立命的道路呢？他始終記得離開中國時，父親對他說：「生命不可能有真富足和真意義，除非你與他人共同分享。人生的價值不是只追求你個人的快樂，而是能夠幫助其他人。」

廣告的工作無法帶給楊志成心靈的滿足，他繼續廣泛地學習，充實藝術內涵，同時隨太極名家鄭曼青習拳及閱讀儒道經典。在放鬆與平衡的冥想運動中，引發了他對人和動物的聲音與韻律的關注。

當時，除了上班，楊志成還到普瑞特藝術學院（Pratt Institute）選修圖像藝術和工業工程課程，也經常參觀博物館、動物園和植物園。午休時就到中央公園盡情素描、觀察眾生百態，從自然界學習不同的事物，以及傾聽他人訴說異文化的故事。

後來，任職的廣告公司不幸倒閉了，朋友建議失業的楊志成去童書出版社求職。他帶著一堆在餐巾紙上塗鴉畫成的動物手稿，去見哈潑出版社（Harper）的童書編輯諾斯壯（Ursula Nordstrom）。諾斯壯是位識見卓越的出版人，發掘過許多日後的兒童文學大師。桑達克、E．B．懷特等人，都和她有緊密的合作關係。

諾斯壯給了楊志成《自私的老鼠和有關自私的故事》（ The Mean Mouse and Other Mean Stories ）的文稿，請他繪製插畫。起初楊志成因為不想畫「會說話的動物」而拒絕了，但出於對書籍出版流程的好奇，他還是在1962年完成了這件作品的插畫，並且隨即獲得美國平面設計協會（AIGA）的年度大獎。雖然後來楊志成再也沒和諾斯壯合作過，但諾斯壯卻影響了楊志成走向童書創作之路。

真正的伯樂是資深童書編輯阿姆斯壯（Elizabeth Armstrong），她是促使楊志成下定決心投身童書創作的重要推手，後來兩人展開了長期的合作。1968年楊志成和文字作者尤蘭（Jane Yolen）攜手創作《皇帝與風箏》（ The Emperor and the Kite ），兩位新秀首次獲得凱迪克銀獎的肯定，日後他們的作品也分別得到金獎，尤蘭質量兼具的創作力，被譽為「美國的安徒生」。

《皇帝與風箏》是一則充滿了濃郁中國風的童話，楊志成採用民間剪紙藝術的創作手法，並在構圖中留下文人畫裡常見的大量留白，意喻風的流動。這樣的藝術表現不僅精確傳達了故事的旨趣，更讓當時西方的圖畫書界大為驚艷。這次的嘗試極為成功，但楊志成並不因此滿足而沿襲舊法，後來直到2004年他自寫自畫出版的《龍王的九個兒子》（ The Sons of Dragon King ），才再度使用剪紙藝術，結合書法、水墨、篆刻等技法，由此可見一個創作者不斷求新求變的歷程。

《皇帝與風箏》（左）及《龍王的九個兒子》

1990年獲得凱迪克金獎的《狼婆婆》，標誌著楊志成的作品進入成熟期，但在此之前，他認真研究過不同時期的藝術流派，探索過各異其趣的畫風。60年代，楊志成受美國極簡主義影響，作品的構圖精簡且抽象。到了1972年，同樣和尤蘭合作的《喜歡風的女孩》（ The Girl Who Loved the Wind ），展現了波斯、印度微型藝術精巧和裝飾性的特質。透過異文化的視覺傳統，楊志成成功地為故事找到了最恰當的時空背景。

到了80年代，楊志成心儀印象派大師竇加（Degas）迷人的粉彩畫風，他發現粉彩自由多元的表現方式，非常適合做為藝事創新的媒材。1982年出版的《葉限》（），是中國版本的「仙履奇緣」，這個故事可以溯源自一千三百多年前唐朝的筆記小說《酉陽雜俎》。楊志成的挑戰是要如何創造一個具有中國傳統，又能為西方讀者接受的灰姑娘角色。粉彩適切地塑造了葉限柔美輕盈的形象，並賦予這個傳奇浪漫的色彩。

《喜歡風的女孩》（左）及《葉限》

由接下來陸續出版的《但願我是蝴蝶》、《快樂王子》，可以看出楊志成運用粉彩的技藝更加精進純熟，後來的《狼婆婆》會成為經典之作，即可從中看出其脈絡。《狼婆婆》改編自我們耳熟能詳的「虎姑婆」傳說，但楊志成在重述時，又揉合了「小紅帽」的情節，讓中、西方的讀者都能由自己的文化角度去理解。雖然用的是粉彩，但他卻畫出了悠遠的水墨意境。書中還使用紅色的框線，將畫面分割成類似國畫連屏的結構，而視角的變換又猶如電影運鏡般生動。

楊志成在圖畫書中融合中國美學觀點和西方設計理念的視覺語言，令蔚為主流的西方童書出版界耳目一新。但永遠向自己挑戰的楊志成，並不甘於重複慣習的套路。1992年，他又交出《七隻瞎老鼠》，大膽地突破童書禁忌。這本書改編自印度寓言故事「瞎子摸象」，以黑色為底色，用剪紙、拼貼的方式，將原本盲人的角色改變成7隻好奇心重的小老鼠。這樣的更動不僅更親近兒童讀者，也屏除了舊故事中對身障人士的歧視。他在援引傳統的素材時，總是會思考如何賦予新意。

透過不同材質和視覺元素的構成，楊志成創作中拼貼的觀念與時代並進，譬如加入電影蒙太奇的剪輯手法，追求作品更多元的趣味和更繁複的意象。《侘寂》（）是一隻京都貓咪的名字，這個故事不只揭示侘寂的奧義，也意在尋找人的真我。

《汝若為川澗》（ Should You be a River）是楊志成追懷過世妻子的深情之作，《越過高山》（ Beyond The Great Mountains ）是一首充滿音樂性的視覺詩。這幾本書結合了攝影、書法、篆刻、詩歌、天然物等元素做拼貼，楊志成從心所欲揮灑，創意突破無極限。

《汝若為川澗》（左）及《越過高山》

2016年，美國插畫家協會頒發終生成就獎給楊志成，表彰他多年來創作了將近百本的童書，無論就藝術的表現、主題、技法、形式或概念，皆不斷的拓展了童書的邊界，為兒童文學做出持久的貢獻。這一年，楊志成同時出版了《飢餓山的貓》（ The Cat from Hunger Mountain ），被《紐約時報》評為年度十大圖畫書。八十多歲的高齡，楊志成的創造力仍然生機蓬發。這或許來自他長年潛心修鍊太極之道，讓他能在變動的世界中，知道如何在變化中保持自己的力量。

楊志成認為，每一個故事都有自己的靈魂和背景，他的責任就是從故事中體會應該將它置於何處最恰當。創作時不能預先決定非用什麼材質不可，每一本書都需要經過不斷的嘗試，設限過多反而學不到東西。他相信，有時候作品必須等待一段很長的時間，才能獲得出版的機會，然而任何事物都有它自己的時序，誰也不能強迫它們，如果時機是正確的，那麼事情自然會實現。

楊志成曾經表示：「我相信圖畫書及兒童文學的重要性是在於，讓孩子找到他們在這世界上所屬的地方。」當年由香江遠颺新大陸，孤鴻萬里何曾知曉生命未來的落腳處？楊志成的個人生命史就是一部具體而微的中國近代史，背負著傳統文化和歷史記憶自東向西行。在汲取了西學的養分之後，並無所謂「中學為體、西學為用」的情結，他全心奉獻於藝術的精神，已超越東西文化的界線，為自己找到最適切的位置。

自1962年創作第一本圖畫書至今，楊志成最喜歡的永遠是自己最新的作品。雖然已三度獲得凱迪克獎，他的生活並沒有多大的改變，仍繼續在創作中研究和遊玩。童年時想當個魔術師的夢想已經成真，如今，他已不再滿足於從萬物的外在檢視或複製生命，他想深入生命形式的內在，並從其中創作故事。他發現自己再度進入童年那個空房間裡，只是這一次，他自己就是那一個空房間。

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11月繪本大師》鴻飛哪復計東西：楊志成（Ed Young）的圖畫書創作之路 | Openbook閱讀誌

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2009年7月，曾以《狼婆婆》（）一書贏得凱迪克金牌獎，以《公主的風箏》（ The Emperor and the Kite）和《七隻瞎老鼠》（ Seven Blind Mice ）兩度獲得凱迪克銀牌獎，並兩次提名國際安徒生大獎的Ed Young楊志成，應豐子愷兒童圖畫書獎之邀，赴香港擔任第一屆頒獎典禮的主講嘉賓。 ...

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微信

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杨志成（Ed Young）

可是，你知道吗？这位绘本大师小时候可不是一个"好学生"呢。在一段回忆文字中，他弟弟勃迪（杨斌成）写道："少年儿童时代，二哥（杨志成，小名艾迪）是属于不爱读书的一个，每学期的成绩单上，总是处于'尾巴'位置。"杨志成自己也不否认，他在绘本《爸爸造的房子》中讲到二战时日军占领上海期间，他们三兄弟在学校都被强迫学日语，大哥和弟弟学习成绩好，学日语就得刻意学得很差，而他自己呢？"因为我每门功课都落在后面，学不好日语对我更是小菜一碟。"家里人也还在乎他其他课程的学习，就派大哥哈迪（杨伟成）辅导他的功课，可是这位艾迪小哥总是分心，所以总少不了挨大哥在脑袋上给的凿栗。

Ed和弟弟1939年的合影

你猜，这位小哥学习的时候总分心做什么呢？原来他特别爱画画，一不留神就在画画玩儿，上课的时候也忍不住在课本上画！不过，这也不能全怪他。他妈妈虽然没有受过多少教育，却极其聪慧，尤其在绘画和烹饪方面有过人的天赋。艾迪后来在第一本获得凯迪克银奖的《公主的风筝》中写道："献给我的母亲'赛云'，她生来精力无限，艺术灵感层出不穷"。他还记得小时候有一次患重感冒，妈妈除了照料他，还给了他一些纸和蜡笔，让他兴奋不已。看来，妈妈很懂得画画的"疗效"。

全家1942年在上海的合影，前排中间是二战期间从德国来沪避难的犹太房客女孩，Ed 位于后排左一

这还不止呢，其实他爸爸也很鼓励孩子们画画。家里除了兄弟三个，还有两姐妹：比他大五岁的大姐咪咪和比他大两岁的二姐斐斐。爸爸对男孩女孩一视同仁，鼓励他们读书、做运动，也鼓励他们发展自己的爱好。当时一家人住在上海惇信路（现在的"武夷路"）的一幢独栋两层的洋房里，那是爸爸亲自设计督造的房子。爸爸鼓励孩子们经常到楼顶去观察，把眼中所见画下来。不过即使画同样的建筑，每个孩子画下来的都不一样。比方说大哥画的线条和结构总是非常平直、精确，而艾迪画的可能总有些歪歪斜斜，却也更多了一份热情和趣味。爸爸妈妈从来不会要求他们必须画成什么样子，更愿意鼓励他们做自己。

全家1947年在上海的合影，Ed位于后排右二 。

这位爸爸确实很不简单。在那个很特殊的年代（上世纪三十年代），他不但为一家人建造了一幢为抵御可能的轰炸而特别加固的房子，而且还在房子对面的空地上以集资的方式修建了一个游泳池，让自家孩子和亲朋好友家的孩子得以经常来锻炼。他身兼建筑设计事务所合伙人与圣约翰大学工学院院长之职，百忙之中也不忘常常给孩子们讲故事。艾迪忘不了爸爸在给姐姐斐斐辅导英文时讲那些探险故事的情景，他一边蹭着听故事，一边看着书上那些诱人的插画。即使是在最紧张的空袭期间，一家人全挤在房子最安全的地方，爸爸也会给大家讲故事。艾迪记忆中最深刻的是一个功夫女侠的神奇故事，他当时沉醉于那些激动人心的想象画面中，完全忘了外面正在饱受战火的世界......

回顾杨志成的一生，那段奇特而难忘的童年对造就这位绘本大师，一定功劳甚大。

不过你也许会好奇：他爸爸是怎样一个人？童年又如何呢？那实在是个很长的故事。简单来说，他爸爸杨宽麟是中国第一代建筑结构工程设计大师，早在辛亥革命年间（1911年）就留学美国，后获得密歇根大学土木系硕士学位后回国，渐渐成为当时最著名的建筑设计师之一，并在圣约翰大学主持土木工程系，在解放前夕决定留在国内，成为圣约翰大学最后一任执行校长。

杨宽麟的家世也很奇特。外祖父黄光彩是圣公会在华首位教徒及华人牧师；大姨丈卜舫济是圣约翰大学的创校校长，执掌学校52年。杨宽麟的父亲也是一位牧师，但在他3岁时病逝，六年后母亲也因病和劳累去世。他的童年相当不幸，但幸好有几位姨妈姨丈的接济，他本人也非常争气，靠着勤奋努力，终于成为一代英才。大概因为自己在童年时历经坎坷，所以对自己的孩子特别呵护。

不过，这位父亲对孩子们也是寄予厚望的。杨志成后来独自去美国边打工、边求学，先学建筑，后改行学艺术和设计，在广告设计界小有所成，但仍对前途彷徨不定。这时他收到了爸爸的信，信中的话是说给他们兄弟姐妹听的：

......你们可将此作为首要准则记下：生命不会有真富足，除非你与他人共同分享。生命是否成功、是否快乐，并不在于你为自己做了些什么，而在于你为他人而获得的成就。

Ed 在美国留学期间

杨志成最终选择了童书插画之路，他在这条路上的探索和努力，以及获得的成就，足以告慰慈爱的老父吧。

Brenda Peterson，9月新书catastrophe与杨志成先生合作.

蒲蒲兰，给孩子的童年留下最美的记忆。最新绘本、育儿经验、国际视野。行业资讯尽在蒲蒲兰绘本馆微信号 ID：pupulan2013

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三获凯迪克奖的世界级绘本大师杨志成先生 摘得陈伯吹年度作家奖！

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Storytime with The Met"Cat & Rat" with Ed Young

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Storytime with The Met"Cat & Rat" with Ed Young

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By Ed Young

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Storytime with The Met: "Cat and Rat" with Ed Young

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About Ed Young

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INTERVIEWS:

By Andrea Cheng
Illustrations by Ed Young

Ed Young is one of the most versatile and highly honored illustrators of children's books today. Born in Tientsin, China, he later moved to Shanghai, where he was raised. In the 1950s he moved to the United States and attended the Los Angeles Art Center. Later, Young taught at Pratt Institute, Yale University, the Naropa Institute, and the University of Southern California. He was awarded the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China and Caldecott Honors for book Seven Blind Mice and The Emperor and the Kite by Jane Yolen. We recently caught up with Ed Young and spoke with him about his art and the illustrations he created for his latest book, Shanghai Messenger.

How did you become a children's book illustrator?

I always loved to draw and then I also found out that I love to tell stories. To tell stories by pictures naturally, they become the illustrations. I became an illustrator for advertising first, and then for periodicals, then finally, for children's picture books.
Did your parents encourage you in your decision to become an illustrator?
My parents were in China when I went to school in the United States. At the time I was studying architecture. During that time, U.S = China relations were strained because of the political situations in Vietnam and Taiwan. By the time China reopened its doors, I had already become an illustrator. However, all along my parents encouraged me in artistic endeavors, so when I did become an illustrator, they weren't really surprised.
What kind of research (if any) did you conduct for your work on Shanghai Messenger?
Since I was brought up in Shanghai, I didn't need to conduct much research, but instead relied on my own memories. I tried to convey the feeling of Shanghai, the way it sounds and feels to me. I visited Shanghai several years ago, and much of what I remembered from my childhood had changed. The house I grew up in used to be on the outskirts of town, on a quiet street, and now it is within in the city limits, surrounded by crowded shops. Despite these differences, Shanghai still had the same kind of spirit. To portray Xiao Mei and her family, I worked from photographs provided by the author of her own family, eating dinner and at the markets in Shanghai. I also worked off photos I had of people making wontons.
What about the story of Shanghai Messenger did you feel you could relate to and why?
Since Xiao Mei was visiting Shanghai for the first time, I really tried to put myself in her shoes and tried to feel what it would be like to visit that city for the first time. I was raised there, and familiar with the place, so I didn't want my own experience to cloud Xiao Mei's. This was her story and her experience of journeying to Shanghai for the first time. My daughter is around the same age as Xiao Mei in the story, so I tried to think about what it would be like for her to journey to a place she'd never been before.
Have you had a chance to share the book with children? If so, what was their reaction?
I've only had a chance to share it with my own children. They like it!
What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
I hope readers will come away from Shanghai Messenger feeling that there is great similarity in humanity, even though there is so much contrast in the eastern and western cultures.

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Interviews - Shanghai Messenger | Lee & Low Books

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By Andrea Cheng Illustrations by Ed Young Ed Young is one of the most versatile and highly honored illustrators of children's books today. Born in Tientsin, China, he later moved to Shanghai, where he was raised. In the 1950s he moved to the United States and attended the Los Angeles Art Center.

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Caldecott Medalist Ed Young is the illustrator of over eighty books for children, seventeen of which he has also written. Born and raised in China, he came to the United States as a young man to study architecture but turned instead to his love of art. Young began his career as a commercial artist in advertising and found himself looking for something more expansive, expressive, and timeless. He discovered all this, and more, in children's books. A graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Young has since taught at the Pratt Institute, Yale University, Naropa Institute, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. He is the recipient of many awards, including the Caldecott Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the highest international recognition given to children's book authors and illustrators who have made a lasting contribution to children's literature. Young lives in Westchester County, New York. You can visit him online at www.edyoungart.com.

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Caldecott Medalist Ed Young is the illustrator of over eighty books for children, seventeen of which he has also written. Born and raised in China, he came to the United States as a young man to study architecture but turned instead to his love of art.

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Masterful Creator of Award-Winning Picture

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Masterful Creator of Award-Winning Picture

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Having illustrated more than 80 books for children and written nearly 20 of those, Ed Young is considered a most prolific author and illustrator. However, when one realizes that Young has also received many of the most prestigious honors and awards in children's literature, it is easy to consider this man-who never planned involvement with picture books-a legend in his own right.

"I never intended to get into children's picture books and didn't intend to stay. But after 50 years, I suppose I can say it's my profession. Everything I do, including illustrating picture books, is a way of getting to know myself and a way to find challenges. As an adult creating picture books, one of the challenges is to justify the story by appealing to the adults on different levels. Good literature and good movies made for children have different levels that adults can appreciate. I can find those levels even in the simplest story. That's the fun of it! Doing it over and over is always interesting."

Born in China, Young was a self-proclaimed oddball in a family of engineers. "I think my father ultimately understood where I was coming from, but I wasn't like the rest of them. I spent a lot of time playing alone and drawing by myself. My mother was concerned, but that was how I was.

"I spent my first three years in America studying architecture at the University of Illinois (beginning in 1951). My strength, however, was in graphics. So the following three years were spent studying visual communications after which I went on to examine the relationships between form and function in industrial design. This study led to my falling in love with nature-particularly with 'animals' ways.' My study of animals opened the door to getting involved with illustrating children's picture books."

"Young people should know what they do and don't like. Put your best work forward, and it will guide you. It's not about schooling or college, the real education is discovering something in yourself. That's what's important. Life is about becoming something, and knowing you will never get there, and success is not as important as failure."

The awards began rolling in after he illustrated his first book: The Mean Mouse and Other Mean Stories (Harper & Row, 1962). That title was named one of The Fifty Most Beautiful Books of the Year by the American Institute of Graphics. He has received the Caldecott Medal for Lon Po Po (Philomel, 1989) and has received two Caldecott Honors for Seven Blind Mice (Philomel, 1992) and for The Emperor and the Kite (Philomel, 1967). Three of his works are also listed on The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books: Wabi Sabi (Little Brown, 2008), Cats Are Cats (Philomel, 1988), and Up a Tree (Harper Collins, 1991). Additionally, Young has twice been the U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal (the highest international recognition given to a children's book author and illustrator).

"Recognition is important. It gives me the integrity to work with the writers and companies I want to work with and to earn the trust of those who may be intimidated by the process or what I'm doing. Even if I'm doing something strange, they will trust that it will be right for the book. That's the plus side. The downside is that I'm invited to a lot of functions and school visits, which is really part of the plus side-that's who we're creating the books for-but it takes me away from my work table. My time is not as much my own anymore. The other downside is that we are seen as not real people, we're 'super human' and some will take us too seriously. But we are just people. The real downside is if we start to believe it, we'll never venture out and do something risky."

"As long as young people are going into the business of storytelling, they can do it with words or pictures. They need to prepare themselves by doing lots of reading and learning. Human beings are always telling stories, from cave paintings to eBooks. It's all stories! The more they prepare, the further they'll go. And of course children never outgrow picture books! Neither do adults. Good picture books allow adults to be more playful. They can be vicariously playful. That's why the world of children's books is full of happy people."

Taking risks and venturing beyond the norm has become second nature to Young both in his art and in his life. "At the same time I was studying at the University of Illinois, I suffered a severe knee injury which finally found a cure ten years later in New York City through Tai Chi Chuan. Children's books have taken me around the world in search of visual storytelling throughout human history while Tai Chi has revealed to me a vast world of inner self beyond anything imaginable or encountered in the outer world."

In new books coming out in 2015, Young continues his exploration of ideas beyond what are encountered in the physical world. " You Should Be a River (Little Brown, 2015) is a poem I wrote in response to the passing of my children's mother eight years ago-what it means to be without a mother and how a father can do it. It's about using nature to make up for lost love. Bird & Diz (Candlewick, 2015) is collaboration with Gary Golio about a young Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and how bebop started. I've never done anything visual to express music or sounds, but I interpreted the sounds of bebop in images and learned a lot about jazz."

Young is currently busy working on new projects in his studio. Soon to be 83 years old, Young is still very young at heart and doesn't intend to retire any time soon. "Retire has the word 'tire' in it, and why would a person want to retire if he is not tired? Maybe if he is doing something he doesn't enjoy, but I'm doing work I love. What would I do if I retired? I'm already on vacation!"

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Ed Young, Masterful Creator of Award-winning Picture Books

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Having illustrated more than 80 books for children and written nearly 20 of those, Ed Young is considered a most prolific author and illustrator. However, when one realizes that Young has also received many of the most prestigious honors and awards in children's literature, it is easy to...

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A recording introducing and pronouncing Ed Young.

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Workshop Photo

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Posted by bitesrus on 星期三, 二月 6, 2013 · 則迴響

古書《韓非子》說：" 飛龍乘云，騰蛇乘霧 "

蛇序呈祥，蛇年富貴，蛇年行大運

Illustrated by Celineloup

新的一年蛇年即將來臨

今天咱們就藉由一些插畫家筆下的各蛇群像

開開心心地來聊一聊蛇唄

究竟這個又被稱作小龍的動物跟我們有著怎樣的情緣

1870 the hooded serpent illustration

Illustrated by twoems

其實一直以來人對蛇都是又懼又怕

一則對於牠冰冷無情的外表

二來她滑溜又來去無聲無息的習慣

是如此叫人捉摸不定，實難以叫人對牠認真用情

Illustrated by KarKar

但如果仔細探究小龍的相關傳說與典故

Anaconda Slithery Snake 1909 Vintage German Engraving Original Antique Print

在西方創世之初的傳說中，蛇其實佔有著舉足輕重的地位

人們對蛇的態度可說是既充滿害怕卻又滿懷崇敬

Illustrated by the Gorgonist

伊甸園裡的那隻惑魅的蛇，誘使人類的始祖被逐出了樂園

Eve and the Snake (1880), Illustration by Max Klinger

Illustrated by mysunshinevintage

而在東方中華文化遠古傳說中

則記載著中華民族源起於女媧與伏羲的結合

王延壽《魯靈光殿賦》中載有「伏羲鱗身、女媧蛇軀」

也有學者考證，夏禹姓姒，姒即巳，巳即蛇

因此蛇在我國是一種相當重要的圖騰標記

在中國歷史神話傳說中，蛇也被古人賦予了美好的形象，善良的性格

在這神話中蛇身所代表的意義 是再生和生命力

在古埃及的神話世界裡，蛇同樣被賦予多樣重要的角色與功能

牠既是敵對者又是保護者，既是神祇也是惡魔

代表生命與再生，也象徵死亡與虛無

Uraeus 眼鏡蛇是古埃及諸神（Re, Horus, Seth）與法老的象徵

Image via Tony Riff

其實公元前的歐洲國家使節

將兩條蛇的形象雕刻在拐杖上，代表使節權

是國際交往中使節專用的權杖

蛇成為國家和權威的象徵

讀了有關蛇的遠古傳說，當我們更多瞭解蛇

也就更拉近了我們與蛇的關係

Illustrated by Marina Loeb

Crictor by Tomi Ungerer 1958

插畫家畫筆下與蛇相關的畫題

除了遠古神話傳說的既有畫面印象

對與蛇也相當有關聯的 " 情慾隱喻 " 詮釋

也用他們獨到眼光，畫下蛇蠍美人的意像

讓我們對蛇的認識程度，更多沾染了一層幽默意味兒

Illustrated by Kiersten Essenpreis

Illustrated by andrea kett

1907 ALICE in WONDERLAND by Charles Robinson

當你對原本畏懼害怕的事物

能多加一點瞭解時

絕對會發覺牠們的可愛之處

Illustrated by ElineJetten

在這蛇年即將來臨之際

希望這篇文章對蛇的介紹及畫家畫筆下的曼妙畫境

能讓你多喜歡蛇一點點

Illustrated by jessica moon

祝你擁有 龍馬精神，蛇我其誰

虎躍龍騰生紫氣、風調雨順兆蛇年

恰逢盛世豬如象，喜慶新春蛇化龍

Designed by Agadart

也記得一定要愛你的蛇朋友們

祝大家蛇年

煉出大塊頭，換上新行頭， 拿出蛇勁頭，趕上強勢頭， 賺足蛇彩頭，蛇年有奔頭

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Posted by bitesrus on 星期三, 二月 6, 2013 · 則迴響 古書《韓非子》說：" 飛龍乘云，騰蛇乘霧 " 蛇序呈祥，蛇年富貴，蛇年行大運 Illustrated by Celineloup 新的一年蛇年即將來臨 今天咱們就藉由一些插畫家筆下的各蛇群像 開開心心地來聊一聊蛇唄 究竟這個又被稱作小龍的動物跟我們有著怎樣的情緣 1870 the hooded serpent illustration Illustrated by twoems 其實一直以來人對蛇都是又懼又怕 一則對於牠冰冷無情的外表 二來她滑溜又來去無聲無息的習慣 是如此叫人捉摸不定，實難以叫人對牠認真用情 Illustrated by KarKar 但如果仔細探究小龍的相關傳說與典故 Anaconda Slithery Snake 1909 Vintage German Engraving Original Antique Print 在西方創世之初的傳說中，蛇其實佔有著舉足輕重的地位 人們對蛇的態度可說是既充滿害怕卻又滿懷崇敬 Illustrated

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Seven Impossible Interviews before breakfast

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Seven Impossible Interviews before breakfast

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#79 Ed Young

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February 9th, 2009 by Eisha and Jules

"A Chinese painting is often accompanied by words. They are complementary. There are things that words do that pictures never can, and likewise, there are images that words can never describe." - Ed Young (at Embracing the Child)

Jules : How can we even begin to describe, as the big fans we are, how exciting it is to have renowned Caldecott medalist Ed Young stop by for a chat today? Young has brought us over eighty illustrated picture book titles - visually-delightful works of the imagination, as well as countless adaptations and re-tellings of the old folk tales and fables of our world, often rendered in paper-collage. If I were asked to name a contemporary illustrator whose works provide a truly exciting visual experience, no matter the book's tone, Young would be the first to come to mind. Whether he's using the bold, bright collage of a book like The Emperor and the Kite (written by Jane Yolen and published in 1967) or bringing us ethereal impressionistic paintings, such as in 1989's Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China, it's always dramatic. Always striking. Always infused with an elegance. You look at his illustrations, and you can see the poet in him.

Eisha, could you even pick your favorite Ed Young title, or would it be way too hard?

P.S. Ed asked us: What are the seven impossible things? Shoot, I don't think we've ever addressed that. To me, everything is impossible, pre-breakfast, until I've had coffee. Sadly, I'm not just trying to be cute.

eisha : A favorite? A single favorite, you mean? Nope, can't do it.

I can tell you that was probably my first introduction to his work, and I loved it deeply for it's brilliant composition and fine edge of creepiness. But I also loved using in library storytimes - kids always love the big reveal at the end. is very cool - I love the way he made use of the accordion book format to create a fresh and contemporary take on a traditional form - kind of like he did with the story itself. Ooh, but also, did you see Beyond the Great Mountains? That was so quietly beautiful, and again, he made great use of innovative design to show his torn-paper collage to its best advantage. But no, I couldn't possibly just pick one.

So, what about you, Jules? Got a single favorite?

p.s. - Hmm. Sadly, I think for me most days, the impossible things I have to make myself believe before I can face the world are things like "I can do this" and "Everything's going to be just fine." But that's way too maudlin to say to Ed Young. How about: it's different for everybody, and it's different every breakfast.

Jules : That's putting it well, Eisha. How about, possibly: We're different every breakfast, not to mention every breakfast is different.

Yes, it's also way too hard for me to pick a favorite, but I will say that , written by Mark Reibstein and published by Little, Brown last year, is right up there on my list. And not just 'cause I have two gorgeous spreads from it to share today. I won't go on about it again here; I blogged about it back in December. In that post, I also linked to Alvina Ling's posts at the Blue Rose Girls about the story of the book's long road to publication, including the tale of how Young's original art work for the book went missing. Fascinating story. Simply beautiful book.

And, speaking of his new books, scattered throughout this interview are some images from Ed's newest illustrated title, by Kimiko Kajikawa, just released by Philomel Books in February. The story is adapted from Lafcadio Hearn's "A Living God" (from Gleanings in Buddha-Fields, published in 1897). Ed uses collage, pastel, and gouache to illustrate the tale based on Japanese hero Hamaguchi Gohei, who in 1854 made a huge personal sacrifice during the approach of a tsunami to save the lives of many. It is a moving story of loss and the power of goodness and sacrifice for the sake of community. I've not seen the book yet, but I've seen .JPGs of the spreads, and Ed's work is, as always, visually powerful. Just look at the cover here below. How one can do that with paper is beyond me. (For a way more detailed analysis of the cover, don't miss Betsy Bird's late-January review of Tsunami! As always, the review is thoughtful, detailed, and spot-on.)

"Long ago in Japan, there was a wise old rice farmer who lived near the sea. The people in the village called him Ojiisan, which means 'grandfather'..."

If you scroll down, you'll see (later in the interview) the spread of the wall of water about to hit the small village of the story, and it's positively terrifying. That's a compliment; it's a riveting tale.

We'd like to thank Ed for taking the time to do this interview, especially since I believe his preference was to conduct the interview via phone, yet I'm not quite equipped here at my home, in many ways, to do an interview justice in that matter. Ed hand-wrote his responses, and his agent's assistant, the honorable Ms. Abigail Shepard, transposed them into email for me (which I had no idea she was going to do, or I would have tried to talk her out of all that work). So, I send hearty thanks to Ms. Shepard as well. "Some {responses} are probably better in person than in the written form," Ed told me. While we wish we were having an actual, face-to-face breakfast with him (hey, we can dream), we thank him for his flexibility in trying to get this interview to our readers.

Since Ed answered the interview questions, as he put it, "the best I could in the order that would inform best," I'm going to format the interview in that manner. We'll begin our interview then with the Pivot Questionnaire. It's usually how we close our author and illustrator chats, but Ed answered it first (which I find fitting, since I happen to think the responses to this questionnaire tell you a great deal about a person, but I digress).

* * * The Pivot Questionnaire * * *

Ed : "AHA!"

Ed : "Can't," "Impossible."

Ed : A well-told story.

Ed : Insincerity.

Ed : "Heartless."

Ed : Sound of waves lapping the shore.

Ed : High-pitched screech.

Ed : Drama or film-making.

Ed : "You are here already? Go back down and finish what you started, where you're most needed."

: What initially drew you to Mark Reibstein's wonderful Wabi Sabi? What was it like to read that text for the first time and to explore the potential relationship between his story and your art work?

Ed : There is the vision of Mark Reibstein to introduce a concept similar to my own and a way of life which must be experienced rather than be told in words. In addition, in the text, Haiku in Japanese and English must be included.

It was not an easy book to make and I took it on as an exercise and a challenge.

: You've said before that "producing a book becomes part of the spirit of each person who touched it." What did you learn about the people who helped bring Wabi Sabi to publication, particularly after the rather arduous journey to publication the book had (the lost art, etc.)

: The spirit of each person who touched it (and those who'd touched them), not to mention whoever took the "lost art," and my wife, who passed away during that interim-they all challenged me unwittingly to move forward to create what is now the Wabi Sabi book. For that, I am grateful.

: At a Horn Book ceremony in which you once spoke, you talked about the "Eight Matters of the Heart," the place where you say you put your mind before you do your work. Can you elaborate on that a bit for those who never heard that acceptance speech (or saw the poster or read )?

Ed : We put ourselves in jeopardy in life if we don't have our mind and body in the right place. The eight matters must accompany me wherever I tread so that I know the time that I have in this world is well spent (for one never knows if I'll be here again for another round).

An interior image from Tsunami!

Ed : Visual art is about expressing one's vision visually. Yes, art is taught differently in different parts of the world, but the method is not as important as how it is taught.

In the East, the emphasis is on freeing the mind and body, and to see things deeply beyond its outer form through observation. In the West, it's about celebrating the joy of art and one's unique vision and expressions.

In the end, it is the teacher who can challenge and ignite that passion to excel, to become at home within oneself, that really matters.

From Tsunami!: "And presently an earthquake came-a long, slow, spongy motion...This shock was not strong enough to frighten anyone. The people kept celebrating. But Ojiisan, who had felt hundreds of earthquakes in his time, thought this shock strange."

Ed : I usually begin illustrating a book as I read and am inspired by the text of the manuscript, long before any publisher is aware of it. As everyone in the business knows, manuscripts usually bounce from house to house a bit before they land in the right place at the right time. It is at that point it goes into its final stages of development, such as format, sizes, medium, design, choice of paper, type faces, colors, and styles.

Ed : Since I was brought up under the Japanese occupation of WWII, things were scarce, including paper. I used to draw on the blank spaces on my textbooks and newspapers. All that has become a part of me, even if I have lived in the U.S. for half a century already.

"...The sun-dried stalks caught like tinder and burst into enormous orange flames. Massive clouds of black smoke whirled into the sky. Tada, terrified, ran after his grandfather, crying, 'Why, Ojiisan? Why?'..."

: The New York Times wrote that your choice of medium (collages) in Wabi Sabi is "a metaphor for the gentle philosophy explored {in the book}." Did you deliberately intend to reflect the worldview that is wabi-sabi by choosing to use the materials you used to create the illustrations?

: The lost art of Wabi Sabi was made by largely store-bought materials. However, since I had lost the finished work and all my materials, I began afresh with whatever I had gathered, and that is when Wabi Sabi, as a term, became real for me.

Ed : Paper is only one kind of material. I look for every kind of material in nature, as well as man-made in their textures, color, and patterns-the whole thing is a process of improving on what's really there.

Ed : My studio in about 40' long by 10' wide in a small barn with two sky-lights. I have a table along the length of the room so that I can see the whole book in pictures upon one glance in order to orchestrate the story. I usually work standing up so that I can move about freely. It is my place of centering and quietude-a haven.

Ed : Although I enjoy talking with friends, I enjoy being in silence alone or with people where words often aren't necessary. For this reason, dawn is my favorite time of day.

"Ojiisan smiled. 'My house remains,' he said. 'And there is room for many.'
Then he led the way to his house."

Ed : I don't know any Chinese-American illustrators/artists by name, although I may know them by sight.

Ed : I do not engage well with superficial meeting, unless there's a common task involved. Perhaps that is why I don't drink coffee or wine.

"The people never forgot their debt to Ojiisan. When better times came, they built a temple to honor him..."

Ed : I loved Chinese historical novels while growing up in China. I also loved classical illustrators like Howard Pyle and N.C. Wyeth for their paintings.

Ed : Do what you love. Over time it will set you free. Love what you do and you will leave the world a better place than the one you've found.

: What books/projects are you currently working on that will come after Tsunami?

: Currently, I have three books under contracts in their various stages of development: Moon Bears with Henry Holt, 7 Fathers with Roaring Brook, and Have Scissors, Will Travel with Chronicle Books.

Illustrations from TSUNAMI!: Tsunami! was written by Kimiko Kajikawa, illustrated by Ed Young, published by Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group (USA). Text copyright © 2009 by Kimiko Kajikawa. Illustration copyright © 2009 by Ed Young.

Illustrations from WABI SABI. Text copyright © 2008 by Mark Reibstein. Illustrations © 2008 by Ed Young. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers, New York.

For more online information about Ed Young:

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Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

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February 9th, 2009 by Eisha and Jules "A Chinese painting is often accompanied by words. They are complementary. There are things that words do that pictures never can, and likewise, there are images that words can never describe."

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Bringing in the new year

Celebrate Chinese new year

Lion Dance

My China Town

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Many people around the world celebrate the Chinese New Year (sometimes referred to as the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival), and we've compiled a list of colorful children's books to accompany the festivities! Whether it's hanging spring-happiness poems or the exciting awakening of the dragon, these books capture the rich sense of tradition and renewal with which families sweep out the old year and welcome the new.

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Many people around the world celebrate the Chinese New Year (sometimes referred to as the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival), and we've compiled a list of colorful children's books to accompany the festivities!

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Books by Ed Young

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Meet-the-Author Book Reading with Ed Young The House Baba Built: An Artist's Childhood in China Created by TeachingBooks.net

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Ed Young / Beyong the Great Mountain

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In striving to enrich the lives of all readers, TeachingBooks.net supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read. © 2001- TeachingBooks.net LLC | All Rights Reserved |Policies | Last Updated ,

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Ed Young is a TaiChi student of Cheng Man-Ch'ing

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Ed Young, children's book artist and tai chi teacher, will be having an exhibit of his works in Abiline, Texas, November 11, 2011-January 28, 2012 at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature. Young, who is about to turn 80, immigrated to the United States as a youth, and studied architecture, before turning to illustration.
In 1964, he happened to meet Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing, who was visiting the United States. After Cheng decided to stay on in New York City, Young became one of his assistants and translators, and became a taiji teacher himself in the New York area and beyond.

Young's book Lon Po Po, the Chinese Red Riding Hood story, won the Caldecott Medal, the highest US honor in children's book illustration. Two other books, The Emperor and the Kite, and Seven Blind Mice, by Young himself, have won Caldecott Honors. Recent books include Wabi Sabi (with Mark Reibstein), Moon Bear (with Brenda Guiberson), Hook, and Tsunami (with Kimiko Kajikawa). His newest book, The House Baba Built, a picture-book memoir about his boyhood in wartime Shanghai, is meeting with critical acclaim.
For an article about the exhibit, see theAbiline Recorder.
Young can be seen on this BBC video discussing The House Baba Built.

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Cheng's Student Ed Young to Have Art Exhibit

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Ed Young, children's book artist and tai chi teacher, will be having an exhibit of his works in Abiline, Texas, November 11, 2011-January 28, 2012 at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature. Young, who is about to turn 80, immigrated to the United States as a youth, and studied architecture, before turning to illustration.

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Teaching Books.net 02/07/2005

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In-depth Written Interview

Insights Beyond the Movie

Ed Young, interviewed in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York on February 7, 2005.

TEACHINGBOOKS: You won the Caldecott Medal in 1990 for Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China. The artwork is stunning and the story captures young peoples' imaginations.

ED YOUNG: Lon Po Po is a story that I heard when I was small, and I didn't know then that it was a rare version of the Red Riding Hood story. It wasn't until I came to this country and I became a children's book author that it occurred to me that it was only one version of the widely known story. In the Western or European version, Red Riding Hood needed the hunter to come and save her. The three girls in Lon Po Po actually handle the wolf themselves. This approach not only gives a boost to children that they can handle problems on their own, but it also tells them that they don't really need an adult around to do the job.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Your Caldecott honor book, Seven Blind Mice, is a creative and appealing approach to the proverb about six blind men. How did you conceive your version?

ED YOUNG: The proverb that became Seven Blind Mice was attractive to me since I was a child.

I decided that the story would work better in illustration if it had a small animal, rather than a person, feeling the different parts of the elephant, especially with a seventh one roaming the entire animal to discover what it was. The first thing that came to me was a monkey, but gradually it became evident that the monkey was still too big. So, it became a story of mice.

Then I thought, "Why not include the seven colors; the white mouse could be the white light and the others could be the rainbow colors." And then the seven days of the week occurred to me: "Why not introduce each one as being in sequence of the seven days of the week?" So each element gradually became a part of the book.

TEACHINGBOOKS: How did you create the art for Seven Blind Mice?

ED YOUNG: The medium for Seven Blind Mice is cut paper. I thought in the beginning that paper cutting would be a very easy thing to do; I thought it was just a matter of cutting the paper. But, then I found out that it was very hard to do. It's not so hard to draw the tail, but to cut it, I had to cut two lines that sort of tapered off at the tip and make it appear as if there was flesh inside. If I made a nick or something, the tail wasn't right. So, for all the tails that got onto the page, you should see how many tails I cut that didn't get in. It was a very difficult book to make.

Although they all look the same, the mice are made to show varying emotions. Each mouse has his own statement, his own mood and his own emotions. I showed the emotions by the way the ears and the tails were positioned. When an animal is angry or fearful, the ears flap back. And when the tail is excited, it goes straight up. So, I had a lot of tails to cut.

TEACHINGBOOKS: In Lon Po Po, you used panels to help illustrate your story - this is common in Asian art, but not often seen in American children's books. Please discuss the effects this technique creates.

ED YOUNG: Oftentimes, panels are useful for me. One reason is because books have a gutter which bridges across two pages, and you don't want important art to be caught in the gutter. When you use two panels, one on each side of the gutter, it's almost like looking through a window without looking at the divider. You just look through the window, ignoring what is interrupting your view. Also, having a panel or two in a page lends itself to showing more than one moment at the same time.

TEACHINGBOOKS: You illustrated the film, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. What was it like to be part of such a moving, impacting project, especially as a Chinese man working on a story about a WWII Japanese girl?

ED YOUNG: I initially turned down the story, because first of all, I'd never done a movie. And second, it was a story about a real person, and I would need a lot of photographs of that person for me to do a good job. And, thirdly, I needed to know everything about the Japanese culture; I'm Chinese and I did not know enough. But another reason I rejected it - that I didn't share at the time - was that I felt funny about being Chinese and doing a Japanese story, especially about World War II.

But then I heard a reading of the manuscript and a lot of things came alive for me; I began to think that perhaps I could use the crane as the underlying symbol for all of the pictures. Once that thought crossed my mind, I started to see that it was possible for me to do it. Then, I went to Hiroshima to visit with people there and to see the interiors of Japanese houses and the layout of the rooms. The movie takes you into different rooms, and you have to believe that you are moving inside a room.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Then, you recreated the illustrations for the book, Sadako.

ED YOUNG: Yes. The film's pictures couldn't be used in the book. When making the movie, the most important part of the illustration was placed in the center. For the book, the center is folded into the gutter, so I had to make the illustrations all over again.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Many of your books illuminate universal sentiments. The Sadako story, for example, is about the universal truth of peace.

ED YOUNG: A statement comes from a place where you are comfortable, and what you think is important. In making a book, I hope to find a way of transforming the reader just even a little bit into thinking that it's possible to do something that connects the reader back to his or herself.

If you have something that you like to share with the world, then that's a piece of peace. It's connected to the peace that you feel. And if you have that, people will get it.

I think that real peace comes from oneself. You can put it out there. You can wear it on your shirt. You can stick in on the car. But it's still not your own peace. The only peace that you can have is yourself.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What is the relationship between Tai Chi - which you practice regularly - and your art?

ED YOUNG: The practice of Tai Chi is about discovering yourself. It's about forces of the world - both natural and unnatural and how one relates to them. It's about focus and about balance. It's the understanding that things change and knowing how to stay centered throughout the changes.

Art is about the same thing - find out about yourself. How do you produce something that is satisfying? How do you state something in the simplest manner for the maximum effect? How do you use a moment? How do you wait for the opportunity?

I think they're both about the same thing - being patient, being trustworthy. Doing what you can for the moment.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Beyond the Great Mountains: A Visual Poem About China is a very rich and multi-dimensional book that you've been developing in your mind for over 20 years. Where did the idea originate?

ED YOUNG: Beyond the Great Mountains originated with a lecture that I gave in Boulder, Colorado in the 1980s. I wanted to introduce to the audience Chinese characters, or radicals, and the way they are put together - taking symbols and putting them in positions that are easy to understand. At the time, the only thing that was available for me to show this was the roll of paper towels in the men's room. I just unrolled a whole lot, started writing and made up the verse.

Beyond the Great Mountains introduces not only the way the Chinese experience nature, but how the Chinese express nature by visual means. It also demonstrates how the Chinese take the experience and wed it to other experiences to create characters and convey their meanings.

Beyond the Great Mountains is a bridge - it bridges the ancient Chinese character to the Chinese character of today. It also bridges ancient Chinese characters to Western modern art, allowing the Western reader to appreciate them.

TEACHINGBOOKS: So, Chinese characters are a way of communicating via pictures?

ED YOUNG: Yes. The very beginning of Chinese writing is really drawing pictures. The sages who created these character pictures oftentimes put the spirit in them - for instance, the drawing of the cloud would have the dragon inside. They were elaborate drawings.

Over time, the people wanted to just convey the point without doing a tremendous, elaborate drawing. So, the characters became simpler and simpler. Nowadays, a character oftentimes does not resemble the original picture. But if you know where it came from, you can almost see the picture in it.

Beyond the Great Mountains illustrates the characters as pictures.

TEACHINGBOOKS: In Beyond the Great Mountains, your poem appears in four different forms - making it a comprehensive visual poem.

ED YOUNG: Each page in Beyond the Great Mountains includes the ancient Chinese character (2,500 years old), the modern Chinese character, artwork depicting the character as well as the character's meaning and the words written out in English.

I believe a visual poem is something to be experienced. Poetry is like music. When you hear a piece of music, it's hard for you to describe it in words. When you see a beautiful picture, it's hard for you to describe it in words. Pictures, sounds, words, none of them alone can convey the entire expression - so I show how they work together in this book. I think that art is one area where one can create something much more whole.

I enjoy teaching people how to use symbols as a language, become artists and use art to communicate with other people. That's my wish, and it is a very pleasurable thing to share that with people in this country.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What media did you use in creating your illustrations for Beyond the Great Mountains?

ED YOUNG: The media is paper. When I created the picture of the mountain, I wanted the texture of the mountain to be rocklike. So, I used bark paper - a bark that resembles rocks. I used rice paper for the clouds, allowing the reader to see through them. The mist is made of a thin fiber. Sometimes I make my own paper, too.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Beyond the Great Mountains is produced in a very unusual format. How did this decision come about?

ED YOUNG: My original design for the book was a scroll. But, we all know that a scroll cannot be a book. And, the closest thing to it is an accordion format, where the scroll is folded back and forth until it becomes sort of like a book. That kind of book is not easily assimilated into a library, because it's very easily broken. So, the editor and the designer came up with the idea for index pages, and it worked out perfectly for this.

You open up the front cover, and each page beyond the first page is bigger than the last one. It's almost like going down steps, and each step has one line on it. So, you can actually read the whole poem just by opening up the book.

TEACHINGBOOKS: You grew up in wartime China during the Japanese occupation. What was life like for you?

ED YOUNG: Luckily, during the war my family was not affected in a drastic way by the Japanese occupation. My family did move several times, retreating from the Japanese, but I was brought up in Shanghai, where my father built a house and we stayed there until I left China.

We had a chance to meet many different kinds of people. A Jewish family that escaped Nazi Germany stayed with us, and they had a young baby. The baby was treated like a part of our family, and she's now an elementary school principal in Ohio. Whenever I'm in the area, I go visit her. She still misses Chinese food.

It was a pretty rich kind of experience. We had a Chinese man married to an English woman living with us; they were very poor and needed a place, so they took refuge in part of the house. We found out after the war that he was actually working for the underground.

TEACHINGBOOKS: How was it that all these people came to live in your house?

ED YOUNG: My parents were very outgoing and my father loved people. So, whenever there were people that were in need of help, he always overextended himself. My mother did this, too. She sometimes brought back people to stay with us a while that she'd meet on the train and took a liking to. Oftentimes, they were social outcasts. For my parents, it was just natural that when they saw people in need and they had the means to help, they just did it.

There was a teacher that had gotten pregnant from a student, and their families were not happy about it, so my mother took them in. We had a swimming pool with changing rooms below, and they made shelter there. My mother took care of the baby when the baby's mother went to work. I didn't know about them when I was small; I visited my mother in Beijing recently and she told me. I have encouraged her to write a story about the house, saying that I would illustrate it.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What brought you to the United States?

ED YOUNG: I came as a student. It was not easy for me to come to this country - I waited three years to get a visa, and I had very limited funds. I earned money as I studied, and without knowing it, I actually got to know a lot more about this culture than I had planned through the work I did.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What kinds of jobs did you have?

ED YOUNG: I first lived in San Francisco and went to City College. I lived with an American family as a cook and a housekeeper. I cooked for them, both breakfast and supper, and then did housecleaning on the weekend. The rest of the time was my own to pursue my studies.

They had three boys younger than me, and the youngest boy had mathematical problems. Sometimes I tutored him or took him roller-skating. On the weekends, when I finish my work, I would occasionally go to their country house. I got to know a lot about the American family that way.

I then went to art school in Los Angeles, and I stayed in boarding houses, where I learned more about people and the American culture.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What were you studying, and how did you begin your career in children's books?

ED YOUNG: I never really made long-range professional plans; things simply moved along. I had a trust that things would be okay. I just followed what seemed to be right for me at the moment.

I was studying architecture, simply because my father (who was in a building business and dean of architecture and engineering at a university), hoped that I would graduate and go back to China to help him. While at the University of Illinois studying architecture, I just had a feeling that architecture wasn't my thing. I entered and won a contest designing a homecoming badge, and I was in the paper. One thing led to another, and I went into advertising after art school.

However, I did not look forward to doing advertising for the rest of my life. So, when the company closed, people said, "You like to draw animals, maybe you should go into children's books." I had nothing better to do, so I took a few of my drawings that I did in my spare time to an editor at Harper & Row. They were brush drawings on paper napkins and that kind of stuff. I didn't expect to get a book; I didn't even know what children's books were like. I didn't know that the editor, Ursula Nordstrom, was well known in the field. I didn't know Harper & Row was a prominent company.

She paged through the drawings very carefully and then she said, "I have something here for you." So she opened a drawer, and gave me a manuscript. And it came that easy. I just took the book and gave it a try. It won a prize, and agents sought me out and wanted to represent me. That was in 1962.

TEACHINGBOOKS: When you illustrated your first children's books, what approach did you take?

ED YOUNG: I was trying different techniques to make books more exciting, because up to that point, it seemed like there were not that many people who were really experimenting with the different media that could be used in illustrating children's books.

Cut paper was one technique that people weren't using, and I had wanted to learn paper cutting. So when I was given Jane Yolen's manuscript for The Emperor and the Kite, it seemed like the story was perfect for a technique of that sort. It was a folk tale, and I wanted to use a folk art from China to do the book.

I had never done paper cutting before; I just guessed how. And after I did it, I didn't want to do it again because now I had learned how to do it, and I was ready for something new.

[ Editor's Note: The Emperor and the Kite received a Caldecott honor in 1968.]

TEACHINGBOOKS: How do you now approach the media you use in your illustrations?

ED YOUNG: I like to compare media to food ingredients. It is the job of the artist to get to know the media so that when he has a dish that he wants to produce, he will know what kind of ingredients to serve. But before he can serve it, he has to pay respect to them and to learn how they would like to be treated. Art education helps the artist get to know each media as much as he can.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Have you ever illustrated a book with a certain technique, then changed your mind and re-illustrated using something different?

ED YOUNG: Yes, I did that when I illustrated Rafe Martin's book called Foolish Rabbit's Big Mistake. It was an Indian tale, and up to that point, I had illustrated Indian folk tales in Indian formats - usually miniature paintings. They are very elaborate, with decorative borders and little images. I first illustrated the Martin book in miniatures. It was a Chicken Little story, with drama and fear. And I realized that I couldn't get that feeling through the miniature paintings.

So when I submitted my work to the art director, I said, "This is what it looks like, but I'm not satisfied with the way that it's portrayed; the Indian paintings will not allow me to scream and make huge, dramatic pictures." And the art director just looked at me and said, "Why don't you do it the way you think it ought to be?" I had never even thought of that possibility, because I was respecting the Indian way of telling stories.

I went home and started to experiment with pastels. I had big strokes with big colors - everything was big. I exploded, and I looked to Gauguin's work and said, "That's the way to go," and I did the whole thing all over again in pastel. That's how I got into pastels, and I've done several books in pastel since that time.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Many of your books are folk tales. What about that genre appeals to you?

ED YOUNG: Folk tales are a living art. They reveal what a culture is about, and they are universal. Each culture has their own telling and their own values, but many of the basic stories are the same. So, for me to go into each culture and tell the same story, I get to share the different cultural version with others and get to know about the other culture.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Your book, Voices of the Heart, is a cross-cultural work.

ED YOUNG: Yes. To make it easy to understand Chinese characters, the Chinese created categories called "radicals." So for "tree," for example, you have the character for "wood" in that word. Anything that's made out of wood has the radical "wood" in it. If you are making the word "steam," or "gravy," or "waterfall," then you have the radical "water" in them. There are 214 radicals or categories; any word you want to create fits into one of the 214 categories. Once you have those categories down pat, then you can wed them together to create any Chinese character.

Voices of the Heart takes the radical "heart" and weds it with other radicals to make many different emotions. For instance, the word "shame" is composed of the ear and the heart. When they're put together side by side, it means putting one's ear to one's heart. My intention for Voices of the Heart was to put symbols in positions that could be easily understood. And the person who reads the book can be introduced to the basic radicals in this fashion.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Please describe a typical workday for you.

ED YOUNG: I think about my work each workday; sometimes nothing is put down on paper. The only routine I have is getting up at 6:00 in the morning and going to bed around 10:00. What happens in the middle is not predictable.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you do when you get stuck?

ED YOUNG: When I get stuck, I just do something else. Read something, take a walk or visit with some people.

Oftentimes, getting stuck is like asking yourself a question without words - like knowing where you want to go, but not which route to take - where the intention is clear, but the process is unknown. What's important is to know that eventually you will get there. It may take a little bit more time, but in the meantime, you will gain an awful lot more by the route of an unfamiliar path.

I trust that stuckness is something that is given to me to help me grow a little bit.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you like to tell students?

ED YOUNG: They should find out what they love and they ought to just stick to it and do a lot of it. The discipline is built into what they love most. Any other discipline that is given as a "should" is not true discipline. They should follow their heart and their gut feeling.

Also, I think one ought to be open to many different ways people live; if one can actually put oneself in those people's shoes, one can come away becoming a bigger person and understand why people think and feel the way they do.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Is that what you strive to do as an illustrator?

ED YOUNG: Yes, it's my job, because if I cannot put myself in other people's shoes and tell their story, then I'm not a good illustrator. It's really about being where they are and feel the way they do because they are what they are.

I feel that my job to be in this country is to learn as much about the West as I can and introduce the East as much as I can. So, my books are a study of cultures and of hearts from both sides, and introducing one to the other.

This In-depth Written Interview was created by TeachingBooks.net for educational purposes and may be copied and distributed solely for these purposes for no charge as long as the copyright information remains on all copies.

Questions regarding this program should be directed to info@teachingbooks.net

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In-depth Written Interview Ed Young, interviewed in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York on February 7, 2005. TEACHINGBOOKS: You won the Caldecott Medal in 1990 for Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China. The artwork is stunning and the story captures young peoples' imaginations.

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凱迪克惠本冊展專題1990 C

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凱迪克惠本冊展專題

1990 Caldecott Medal Winner

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中譯： 狼婆婆

作/繪者： Ed Young

主題： 恐懼(傳說類)

適讀年齡： 5-10歲

楊志成，英文名Ed Young，美籍華人，是國際圖畫書界聲名遠揚的大師。在40多年的圖畫書生涯中，他創作了 80多本圖畫書，曾三度獲得美國圖畫書最高榮譽-凱迪克大獎。楊志成1931年生於天津，3歲遷居上海，17歲移居香港，20歲時赴美國伊利亞諾州立大學建築系就讀，後來又轉到洛杉磯藝術學院學習廣告設計，畢業後從事廣告插畫工作。他在1962年創作了第一本童書《自私的老鼠和有關自私的故事》（《Zhe Mean Mouse and Other Mean Stories》），發覺圖畫書寬闊的創作空間更適合自己。由此，開始了一生的圖畫書創作。楊志成在中國完成了基礎學業，受到了東方文化的熏陶；在美國生活多年，對西方藝術也有很深的理解。因此，他的圖畫書創作貫穿兩界，很好地融合了東西方藝術，形成了獨特的風格。楊志成的創作多以各國民間故事為內容，融合了東西方藝術的技巧，很好地體現了多元文化的特徵。在談到為什麼要創作多元文化的圖畫書時，楊志成曾說：「我參與兒童圖畫書工作的動機，一方面是想要引介中國的故事-我們有太多好故事了！另一方面，以一個異鄉人的身份來到美國，我也希望多理解西方的故事，好拓展我自己的眼光和表現形式。每次我投入一個異域文化故事，我都從中受益匪淺。」

有一天，媽媽獨自去外婆家幫她過生日，留下阿珊、阿桃和寶珠在家看守，一隻飢腸轆轆的大野狼趁這個機會喬裝成三個女孩的外婆，悄悄地潛入她們的屋裡。在本書中，作者以充滿東方的水墨色彩，描繪出夜晚詭譎的氛圍，這個故事就像是西方的「小紅帽」融合了民間流傳的中國傳奇故事「虎姑婆」所寫成的。

其他作品：
《The Emperor and the Kite》（皇帝與風箏）－1967年美國凱迪克銀牌獎

《Lon Po Po》（狼婆婆）－1989凱迪克金牌獎

《Seven Blind Mice》（七隻瞎老鼠）－1992凱迪克銀牌獎

相關資源：
http://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/lon-po-po-a-red-riding-hood-story-from-china-by-ed-young/

繪者利用粉筆渲染的特性，將動物獸性的跳躍距離拉長，彷佛呼吸到野狼出沒的氣味。明暗色調的強烈對比，讓人有不寒而栗的詭異效果。

雖然用的是粉彩，但楊志成卻畫出了一種悠遠的水墨意境，寫意而非寫實，讓人覺出這個東方故事的神秘與詭譎。從開頭媽媽 告別三個女兒出門去外婆家起，一直到狼現出原形為止，十四頁之中畫家始終沒有讓讀者看清狼的真面目，然而它又無處不在：比如第一個畫面即媽媽出門時，她其 實就踩在了狼的鼻子上-她們房子下的那個山丘，就是一個狼頭的形狀，實際上已經意味著危險逼近。

在本書題記裏他寫道，"感謝大地上所有的'狼'，因為他們把自己的好名字借給我們，用來代表活生生的壞 人"。楊志成說，美國有些男孩子讀了這本書之後，不再怕狗了，為什麼呢？因為恐懼從心而生，如果你戰勝了藏在內心深處的恐懼，也就不怕狼婆婆或者惡狗了。 在西方，"小紅帽"讓無數藝術家和讀者著魔，但西方小紅帽和東方小紅帽的區別是什麼呢？楊志成解釋，西方小紅帽是靠獵人來拯救，而東方的小紅帽則是自救，這是最大的差異。

Bill Peet於1915年出生，是位繪本作家同時也幫迪士尼工作是撰寫故事，他在1937年加入迪士尼，並致力於多部作品的完成，例如我們耳熟能詳的灰姑娘(Cinderella)、愛麗絲夢遊仙境(Alice in Wonderland)等等。

內容簡介：
這本書不僅是一部單純的作者自傳，而是一部帶有傳奇色彩的不朽創作。在這本近兩百頁的自傳繪本中，Bill Peet通篇以生動的黑白墨筆插圖穿插其中，交織成一片圖文相映的回憶場景。他在其中娓娓敘述了自己的童年背景、開始接觸塗鴉及正式學畫的過程，以及進入迪士尼公司的奮鬥經歷。一掃傳記文學的沈重內省，Bill Peet的自傳中讀來彷彿與好友的熱切交談；熟悉的故事主角們亦經常出現其中，讀者因此得以欣賞這些可愛動物最初的靈感雛形。這部圖文回憶錄集結了插畫作家Bill Peet的畢生精華，是研究者及業餘愛好者皆不可多得的經典之作。

作/繪者： Lois Ehlert (露易絲愛勒特)

創作風格：
用了紅橙黃綠藍靛紫，鮮豔七彩佈滿書；取了大自然素材，盎然生機佈滿書；剪了材料素材，剪剪貼貼佈滿書；她的作品用色鮮艷，她的作品素材唾手可得，她的作品採剪貼方式。她大部分的書籍多以剪貼鮮豔顏色的紙張來呈現其作品，其用色大多數是明亮色系的大膽且鮮艷的顏色總是能夠吸引大眾的目光。

故事主角幾乎都不是以人為主，反而是以動物當主角!用動物來代替人類感覺更能強調她所想表達的主旨!但還是有以人為主角的書，而這類的書大多是她自己本身的生活經驗。另外，露易絲愛勒特也有繪製一系列有關英文與數字的學習繪本，把故事書中的英文字母及數字擬人化，以鮮明及生動活潑的圖畫方式來吸引孩子們學習未知的抽象符號。

內容簡介：
本書藉由十六種顏色和九組形狀變化，轉換出九種不同的動物：由獅子變山羊、牛變猴子、老虎變獅子...，讀者在每一頁皆會欣賞到一種不同的動物，還學會顏色及形狀的概念。這是一本充滿創意，好玩又神奇的洞洞書，將會是小讀者的好玩伴。

十週的嬰兒尤其喜歡顏色鮮豔多變化的刺激，四個月的嬰兒對顏色的分辨與界定已經大致與成人一樣，而要學習顏色與形狀的名稱，對於四歲之前的孩子而言，都不是一件容易的事情。顏色與形狀在語言學習的歷程上屬於抽象性的概念，小朋友必須透過他所熟悉的實際物體，例如日常用品或動物，來進行抽象語言的學習。 Color Zoo 這本小書，讓你家小寶貝透過他在動物園常常看到的小動物：小老鼠、獅子、羊咩咩、小猴子，來學習不同形狀的名稱，透過形狀的堆疊所呈現的動物形象，培養小朋友想像力並進而學習抽象思考。簡單的英文形狀與動物命名，讓你與你的寶貝在探索不同顏色、不同形狀、不同動物的同時，還能夠有聲音上的交流，也能夠進行簡單的語言學習。

內容簡介：
這是美國南方一個民間故事，主要在描寫一個家庭裡有二個女兒，但媽媽卻偏愛姐姐，所以要妹妹Blanche做所有的家事，同時對她的態度也很不好，但是善良的Blanche總是逆來順受，默默的做她該做的事。直到有一天她在樹林裡遇到一位老太太，她的一生開始有了變化，這又跟會講話的蛋"talking egg"有什麼關係呢？相當有意思的一個民間故事。就跟灰姑娘有異曲同工之妙。

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中譯： 狼婆婆　 作/繪者： Ed Young 主題： 恐懼(傳說類) 適讀年齡： 5-10歲 楊志成，英文名Ed Young，美籍華人，是國際圖畫書界聲名遠揚的大師。在40多年的圖畫書生涯中，他創作了 ...

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太极/太極 TaiChi
Horace Mann School

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關於楊志成先生

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東成西就--七個華人基督教家族與中西交流百年

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從太平天國到改革開放、由上海工部局到九七年前的香港立法局，以人物世家帶出清末至今不平凡的中國歷史，透過後人獨家訪問，歐美珍藏史料及圖片，用另一個角度看中國近百年現代化歷程。卜舫濟、夏瑞芳、顏惠慶、王正廷、晏陽初、李政道、宋慶齡三姐妹所屬的七個家族創建上海聖約翰大學、商務印書館、中華基督教青年會、中國紅十字會等多家機構，成為近世紀中西文化交流的橋樑，締造中國百年家族故事。

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大海為兒澗

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In children's books, parental love can be a surprisingly hot-potato subject. If a parent's emotions seem somehow too enormous and complex, a book about endless devotion can end up striking many as unsettling rather than reassuring. Take the latest round of debate over Shel Silverstein's classic "The Giving Tree." Is the book's depiction of all-in maternal self-sacrifice beautiful, or disturbing and patriarchal? Impassioned arguments persist on both sides. That split recalls similar objections to Robert Munsch's "Love You Forever," first published in 1986, which features a new mother rocking her baby and singing a little song that ends, "As long as I'm living / my baby you'll be." She repeats the song as she snuggles up to her child through his childhood and teenage years, and even when he is a grown man. Some see in the tale a straightforward, reassuring depiction of the boundlessness of a parent's love. Others think it's just too smothering and creepy, especially the way the woman crawls into her adult son's bed.

But after "Love You Forever" became something of a phenomenon (eight million copies sold), Munsch revealed that the words to the song had come to him "after my wife and I had two babies born dead. The song was my song to my dead babies." Since then, the complaints about his story have tended to be more muted; sometimes they're retracted altogether once the story of the dead babies is known. That seems telling: We're O.K. with intense proclamations of love by a parent when the subject of death is nearby. Push parental love to its logical conclusion, and you are looking at death and mourning. To love a child is to hope that in the best-case scenario, the child will be alive to mourn your own passing. The only alternative - the parent burying the child - is universally considered the most crushing possible loss.

Two new picture books enter this oddly contested territory with high ambitions and, in the background, heart-rending personal stories about mortality. In "Should You Be a River," the much-honored Chinese-American author and illustrator Ed Young presents a long poem intended for his two daughters, accompanied by collages made from torn paper and photographs of trees, sky and water. Sweeping across a range of elements, Young, the author of the Caldecott Medal-winning "Lon Po Po" and the Caldecott Honor book "Seven Blind Mice," conveys both protectiveness and a willingness to set his children free to discover their true natures. "Should you be a flame," he writes, "I'll hold you snugly in my hearth," but also "Should you be a vaporous smoke, I'll lift you to touch the heavens."

A note at the back tells the sad story of its genesis: "In 2007, my two daughters were at the ages of 11 and 13 when their mother passed away." Two years ago, Young writes, one of them mentioned that she had finally "gotten over missing her mom." The very next morning, the lines of the poem started coming to him. Are they meant to be the words of the girls' mother, speaking from some spiritual realm? Or are they Young himself, in his expanded role as both mother and father? At times it seems as though Young is talking to their mother, remembering their bond. ("Should you be a great forest, I'll caress your branches and make you sway.") The power of this book is that all of these possibilities seem true, so that it speaks to the multifaceted nature of both love and loss. The collages in "Should You Be a River" are inventive and lively yet also somehow fierce and jagged, as though the uneven edge of each photograph and bit of paper is a visual reminder that something has been ripped away.

"Wish," by Matthew Cordell, comes with an equally emotion-laden back story. Cordell "personally knows what it's like to wish," declares the author's bio on the jacket's end flap. "In fact, this book is the heartfelt windfall of his waiting for his wish to come true a second time." As the story begins, a couple - Cordell draws them as elephants, one in a green scarf, one in a red scarf - speak to their child. They are telling the story of wishing for his or her arrival, but having to wait and wait. They make plans. We see them building a boat, taking a journey on it, then waiting and listening - past when they can bear it. "But you never come," they say. "And everything stops."

The spare words have a timeless feel, but there is also something strikingly contemporary in this book. We're at a moment when waiting to become pregnant has become its own special hell - people are starting families after their peak years of fertility, when it tends to take longer to get pregnant, and they fear they may be too late. And they are doing so in a baby- and parenting-obsessed culture, and amid the widespread belief that given the army of fertility doctors out there, any and everyone should be able to have the baby of their dreams, pronto. At the same time, speaking up about the frustration and loss many experience during that time of waiting is more accepted. "This is not what we planned," the parents in "Wish" say at one point, in a tone that suggests a mixture of profound dismay and incredulous, half-stifled outrage.

In a note sent with advance review copies, the book's editor reveals that an earlier draft of "Wish" was clearly about a miscarriage Cordell and his wife suffered through while trying to have a second child. ("The sound of you is silent. That blip is no more. ... And everything unravels," a bit quoted from that draft reads.) That version of the book would have been quite something to pull off-an eloquent and devastating rendering of the experience of miscarriage, perhaps. But I have a hard time picturing a child who would benefit from hearing that story. Happily, Cordell and his wife soon welcomed another baby, and so "Wish," while having an undeniably mournful tone for long stretches-parents may intuit that the wait involved a miscarriage, but small children will not-ends on a joyous note. "You are here. You are / HERE."

Cordell's bouncy, frisky yet delicate line drawings, with a recurring motif of a colorful confetti-like stream of dots, are a good match for the material, lightening it up. And yet it's that dark backdraft, that mournfulness, that makes "Wish" feel unusual, and unusually honest.

SHOULD YOU BE A RIVER

A Poem About Love

WISH

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In children's books, parental love can be a surprisingly hot-potato subject. If a parent's emotions seem somehow too enormous and complex, a book about endless devotion can end up striking many as unsettling rather than reassuring. Take the latest round of debate over Shel Silverstein's classic "The Giving Tree."