Adventures of the Treasure Fleet recently received Taiwan's highest children's book award. The "Good Book List" is awarded each year by Taipei City Library for the year's most outstanding works of children's literature.
The committee stated, "the illustrator utilizes a soft, refined drawing style that results in elegantly detailed pictures, which in combination with the author’s concise, lively, and expressive writing deeply capture young readers' attention and stimulate their interest in learning history with pleasure."
I'll be doing a reading of Adventures of the Treasure Fleet on Saturday, May 22nd at the Foster City Library .
Thanks to Sophie Wong 徐思平, the story will also be told in Chinese for the first time. I will be just one of many authors presenting at the Asian Pacific American Heritage Authors Celebration. In fact, this festival will be Northern California's Largest Gathering of Authors of Asian and Pacific Islander Books. I hope you will come on out!
Saturday May 22, 10am - 6:30pm
My reading will be at 12:00.
Foster City Library, 1000 E. Hillsdale Blvd, Foster City, CA 94404
Here's the committee's full review of Adventures of the Treasure Fleet:
For generations, scribes from around the world have written about Zheng He’s great voyages, utilizing various story lines to present different points of view. In the “Adventures of the Treasure Fleet,” the tale is uniquely presented. The illustrator utilizes a soft, refined drawing style that results in elegantly detailed pictures, which in combination with the author’s concise, lively, and expressive writing deeply capture young readers' attention and stimulate their interest in learning history with pleasure. This book represents a new art forum displaying the historical grand Chinese expeditions through glamorous images.
In the early 15th Century, a Ming Dynasty eunuch, Zheng He, made seven trips down the western oceans. Over 300 enormous ships sailed off from China toward the South Sea, entering the Indian Ocean. Many times, the fleet even reached as far as the east coast of Africa. The images reflecting the magnificent expeditions undertaken during that time period are definitely breathtaking.
Looking at the voyage maps, it’s unthinkable that they managed to venture that far. During the long journey, they had contact with many different people with various lifestyles. They encountered all sorts of exotic animals and objects. While they carried home these foreign commodities, they also exported world-famous Chinese porcelain and silk. Such relationships helped to establish frequent trading in the southern seas.
Translated by Sophie H. Wong 徐思15世紀初，明朝太監鄭和七下西洋，三百多艘巨大船舶，從泉州出發航向南海，再進入印度洋，有好幾回，甚至抵達遙遠的非洲東海岸。光是遙想當年這等壯麗的航海行動，就教人動容。
從海圖上觀看，這般遙遠的里程，更是人類不可思議的成就，漫長的航海過程裡，他們接觸到了不同的族群的生活，邂逅了各種奇珍的異獸和器物，他們一方面利用船舶運回這些異國風物，同時輸出了中國著名的瓷器和絲綢，促進了南洋商業貿易的熱絡交流。
針對這一時代的航海壯舉，幾乎每個年代，都有古今中外的寫作者躍躍欲試，撰寫各種形式的故事，呈現嶄新的觀點。本書插圖畫家以細柔的筆法，此一淡輕的畫風，結合了潔淨而明朗的輕快文字，讓讀者輕鬆閱讀，進而對過去的歷史產生興趣。我們也看到一個新畫風，再次把那一個時代中國人航海的華麗，描繪出一個奇美瑰麗的想像。
