Mom is a Sea Fairy

Text by Dai Yun, illustrations by Li Xingming

picture book｜44 pages (including cover&endpapers), 285 x 210mm, age 3+｜Jieli Publishing, June 2024

My mom is extraordinary! While other fairies flutter their wings and fly in the sky, she swims in the ocean with a camera shaped like a crab, befriending angelfish, butterflyfish, sea slugs, and pygmy seahorses. She isn't afraid of encountering poisonous sea monsters either! I'm special too because I'm the daughter of a sea fairy. Will I become a sea fairy when I grow up?

"Mom is a Sea Fairy" is adapted from the real-life experiences of individuals, with the story depicted from the imaginative perspective of a daughter, portraying her view of her mother's diving adventures. In her eyes, the diving suit is as strange and magical as a witch's black robe. When her mother puts it on and goes into the ocean, could she be a witch living under the sea? During the ten days away from home, the mother and daughter share their experiences and feelings through letters. The girl's letters are filled with curiosity and concern about her mother's underwater life, imagining her encountering mermaids and dangerous monsters, introducing her new friends and experiences. Gradually, the girl starts to fantasize about becoming a sea witch herself and exploring the underwater world with her mother. However, as she loves drawing, she might prefer to become a magic brush witch. 

This book is both a fictional picture book related to underwater photography and a coming-of-age story exploring the multiple identities of parents.

All rights available.

AWARD

IMAGE OF THE BOOK WINNERS 

2024 New Names 

Diploma
Li Xingming (China)

“Mom is a Sea Witch”

The contest "Image of the Book" – Annual Contest for Book Illustration and Design was founded by the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications together with the Association of Book Illustrators and Designers of Moscow in 2008. In 2017 it became international. During these years about 1000 artists were awarded.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dai Yun, the first prize winner of the Feng Zikai Picture Book Award, graduated from the School of Foreign Languages at Nanjing University. She has published works such as "Sudan's Rhino Horn," "Wandering Chicken," and "Magpie." "Wandering Chicken" was ranked TOP5 in the 2018 Little Golden Lion Cup Original Picture Book Annual List, and "Sudan's Rhino Horn" won the 2019 Shenzhen Reading Month "Top Ten Children's Books of the Year," the 2019 Dapeng Nature Children's Book "Newcomer Award," was shortlisted for the 2019 "Laureate Children's Book of the Year," the Best Children's Book of the Seventh China Children's Book List in 2019, and the Top 10 Original Picture Books of the Year by the Chinese Picture Book Creation Research Center in 2019.

Li Xingming, a famous illustrator and picture book author, was born in Guangdong and graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. His representative works include "Sudan's Rhino Horn," "Mr. Otter's New Neighbor," "Mr. Otter's Wedding," and "Little Stonemason: The Story of Yungang." His works have won the first prize of the Feng Zikai Children's Picture Book Award, the first prize of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Graduation Design, the Gold Award of the Tianhe Award International Design Competition, and have been selected for the 2018 and 2019 Original Picture Book Annual List.

Sudan's Rhino Horn

Rights sold: complex Chinese, French

Text by Dai Yun, illustrations by Li Xingming

picture book｜56 pages (including cover&endpapers), 25 x 25 cm, age 4+｜Beijing Poplar, 2019

On March 19, 2018, Sudan, the last male northern white rhino in the world, passed away. Sudan's life was extraordinary. In the 1970s, during an operation to relocate endangered African animals, three-year-old Sudan was captured within the Republic of Sudan and sent to the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic, where he spent over thirty years. In 2009, the northern white rhino went extinct in the wild. In 2010, to increase the chances of natural reproduction for the northern white rhino, Sudan, then 38 years old, along with three other northern white rhinos, was sent back to Africa to reside in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Sudan was able to return to his homeland in his twilight years. Unfortunately, they had all lost the ability to reproduce, meaning that humanity is about to witness the extinction of this species.

Based on the true story of Sudan with fairy tale style, the authors look back the life of Sudan. There are three times of cutting off the rhino’s horn in the story: the first time was Sudan’s mother; the second time was in the zoo in Czech; the third time was in Africa: his horn was cut off in order to protect his life. The rhino horn holds a significant symbolic meaning: every rhino is the king of its own territory, and the horn is their crown. Sudan's greatest sorrow was that the horn, symbolizing his identity and pride, could not coexist with his body in completeness.

Hyalodale

Rights sold: Korean

Text by Dai Yun, illustrations by Iwona Chmielewska

picture book｜44 pages (including cover&endpapers), 24 x 28cm, age 3+｜Jieli Publishing, April 2024

Hyalodale shows us a brand new world beyond the bounds of imagination—a poetic and captivating album inviting endless admiration.

Hyalodale is an imaginary place, a world that existed before the real worldappeared. Everything there is colorless and transparent until the colors fallon them one by one and the world becomes bright. What will happen wheneach color runs into the cloud, trees, animals and valley? How about ourtears?

Iwona Chmielewska, a Polish picture book author, was shortlisted for Hans Christian Andersen Award for four times. In 2004, she published her first picture book in South Korea, and then her Eyes and Trouble! and dozens of works have gradually won the favor of readers all over the world. She has won the Best Children's Book Award at the Bologna Children's Book Fair for three times and Bratislava International Biennial (BIB) Golden Apple Award. She is a forward-looking and innovative artist. Her works arefamous for their novelty, uniqueness, creativity, imagination and philosophical depth.

Mr. Otter's New Neighbors

Rights sold: Russian

Text & illustrations by Li Xingming

picture book｜36 pages, 24.5 × 25cm, age 4+｜Beijing Poplar, 2018

It was the first day Mr. Otter had relocated to this new house on an island, and the sun was bursting through the clouds. A large group of neighbors came to visit, including Mr. Bear, who arrived late but brought a jar of sweet honey while everyone was busy decorating the house. However, he was so massive that he accidently shattered the door and smashed everyone’s gifts. What are they supposed to do?

An animal version of Walden Lake, this book features quiet and poetic scenery illustrated by watercolor. It has won the 1st Little Hakka International Picture Book Award and the Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Award.