Feather - Hardcover

Wenxuan, Cao

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0914671855 ISBN 13: 9780914671855

Publisher: Elsewhere Editions, 2017

Synopsis

A philosophical picture book from one of China's most celebrated children's authors and 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Award-winner Cao Wenxuan.

A feather is blown across the sky, meeting various birds along the way, and asking each one, "Do I belong to you?".

Cao Wenxuan tells the story of a single feather who is swept away on a journey of discovery and belonging. Encountering a variety of birds, from a kingfisher to a magpie, Feather is hopeful of meeting the bird she belongs to. Again and again, she is dismissed or ignored. Only when she sees that there is also beauty in being close to the earth does fate offer a reunion... Feather is sure to charm young children with a plot at once compelling, meditative, and quietly moving. Roger Mello’s stunningly beautiful, dynamic illustrations will delight readers of all ages.

About this title

About the Author:

Cao Wenxuan is a professor of literature at Peking University. He is a member of the China Writer's Association as well as the Vice-President of the Beijing Writer's Association. Wenxuan was nominated and received more than 40 awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Chinese National Book Award by the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), and the Golden Butterfly Award of the Tehran International Film Festival.

TRANSLATOR: Chloe Garcia-Roberts is the translator of Li Shangyin's Derangements of My Contemporaries: Miscellaneous Notes, which was awarded a 2013 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant, and author of The Reveal (Noemi Press, 2015). She lives in Boston and is the managing editor for the Harvard Review.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

One day, a little boy and a little girl walked by Feather. They picked her up and passed her back
and forth looking at her.
When they threw her back to the ground and started to walk away, Feather heard the little girl
ask the little boy, “What kind of bird is that feather from?”
Yes, what kind of bird do I belong to? thought Feather. And from that moment on, she began to
ask herself that question all the time.
A strong burst of wind came along and blew Feather up into the sky.
The feeling of fluttering high in the air was delightful.
If I belonged to a bird, I could fly even higher! she thought.
How she longed for the sky! How she longed to soar!

Feather drifted down onto a tree by the waterside.
A kingfisher was perched there on a branch, head tilted, silently watching the water’s surface.
Feather shyly asked the kingfisher, “Am I yours?”
The kingfisher did not respond to her and suddenly plunged into the water. After a moment, it
flew back up with a small silvery fish still wriggling in its mouth.
The kingfisher flew to the tree branch again, and again tilting its head, sat silently watching
the water’s surface.
Feather asked the kingfisher over and over, “Am I yours?”
But the kingfisher was so focused on catching fish it completely ignored her.
Feather waited silently.
At long last, when the kingfisher was no longer busy, it turned its head, took a
long look at Feather and said, “You are not mine.”
A strong burst of wind came along and blew Feather up into the sky.
A cuckoo flew by alongside her.
“Am I yours?” Feather inquired.
The cuckoo was so focused on calling out cuckoo, cuckoo to people that it didn’t pay
any attention to Feather.
The wind kept blowing and Feather kept floating in the sky.
When the cuckoo came flying back around, Feather
once again inquired, “Am I yours?”
The cuckoo turned its head, took a long look, and
said, “Not mine! Not mine!”
Feather drifted down by the side of a pond.
In the shallow water was a heron looking for food.
Feather asked the heron, “Am I yours?”
The heron, focused on continuing its search, paid no attention to her.

About this edition

• Publisher: Elsewhere Editions
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0914671855
• ISBN 13: 9780914671855
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Mello Roger