Secure As If... As If... Author Wenjun Qin Presented As File

little girl in little red boots explores her garden after a rain shower in this lovely, contemplative picturebook from China.
Each creature or object she encounters, from the earthworm to the leaf, provides the little girl with an imaginary entry into a different experience, and another way of viewing the postrainstorm world.
The peach blossoms are "especially well dressed, as if waiting," while the dragonfly rests on the little girl's finger, "as if he is an emerald ring with a pair of silver wings.
" It is as if, the narrative informs us, the girl can understand all of creation around her, . .

Originally published in Chinese as 好像 "hao xiang," which translates as "it seems", As If, . . As If is a beautiful book, one that was inspired, according to author Wenjun Qin's afterword, by a walk through New York City's Central Park, during a family stay in that city.
The text is gentle and dreamy, effectively communicating the mood and feeling of a wet world after rainfall, while the illustrations, done by Xun Liu in oil paint I believe, are soft and likewise dreamy, capturing the enchantment and beauty of the natural world.
I haven't read too many picturebooks translated from Chinese, so I'm happy that the Australian publisher of this one, Starfish Bay Publishing, based in Adelaide, has made Wenjun Qin's book available to the Englishlanguage market.
There were one or two minor textual hiccups verb/subject agreement, and the like that I noticed, but overall I enjoyed this translation.
I will definitely be looking for more from both this author and this illustrator, Recommended to anyone looking for picturebooks translated from the Chinese, as well as those searching for children's stories about the beauty of nature, and the power of imagination to connect us to nature.
A little girl with a vivid imagination ventures into the garden after it has rained and discovers its beauty, Full of imagination, she enjoys a stroll and encounters many of the creatures that call the garden home, A smartly dressed earthworm, the lazy sun, a shy raccoon, a dancing butterfly, There is so much for her to see, This beautifully illustrated story will make readers appreciate the small wonders of nature, A young girl goes out into her garden after the rain, The sun comes out and the garden looks fresh and new, As she explores the garden she finds animals, birds and insects and imagines the world from their perspective, A lovely, gentle read with some really beautiful illustrations, Beautiful language, but very long and repetitive, Poetic in a way adults would enjoy more than children, Wenjun Qin was born in Shanghai in, In, she became the first Chinese writer to

be shortlisted for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, In, she was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, .