Welcome back! 长长的春节假期结束，很高兴再次在校园里看到学子返校的身影。上学期，我们曾报道过幼儿园小作者们潜心创作的故事；或许大家已经发现了——福州西湖国际学校大堂图书角上新啦！如今，你不仅能在大堂读到去年原创作者活动所出版的实体书，还能看到幼儿园小作者们绘制的迷你绘本。

Welcome back! The long Spring Festival vacation is over, and it's great to see students back on campus again. Last semester, we reported on the ECE mini picture books project, and as you may have noticed, many new picture books have appeared in the book corner in the lobby of Fuzhou Lakeside International School! Now, not only can you read the books from the “YES! I'm the Author” activity, but you can also read the mini picture books illustrated by our ECE authors!

这些小巧的绘本由ECE小朋友们制作，孩子们裁开纸张制作本册，所有图片、创意和故事情节都来自小作者们，老师则帮助记录下文字。翻阅这些绘本如同走进一个个孩子的世界。有些孩子的故事像梦境，不那么在乎现实逻辑，但想象力奔腾，轻盈有趣；有些孩子的故事明显取材于现实生活，和家人去游乐场、上街买蛋糕……我们还在绘本里看到了不少熟悉的节日元素，万圣节的蜘蛛与幽灵、圣诞节的圣诞树与礼物、春节的烟花与对联——小朋友的视角在作品中一览无余，Olivia似乎对圣诞树顶端的星星感到好奇：那么高，怎么挂上去呢？在她的绘本《有一只小兔子》里，一只会飞的小兔子完成了这个任务。

These tiny picture books are made by ECE kids, who cut out the paper to make the book, with all the pictures, ideas and storylines coming from the young authors, and the teachers only helping to write down the text. Looking through these books is like stepping into the children’s worlds. Some of their stories are dream-like, less concerned with realistic logic, but imaginative and very interesting to read; some of the children's stories are clearly drawn from real life, with episodes such as going to the playground with the family, or going down the street to buy a cake. We also see many familiar festive elements in the picture books- Halloween spiders and ghosts, Christmas trees and presents, Chinese New Year fireworks and couplets. The children's perspectives are very evident throughout the artwork. Olivia seems to be curious about the star at the top of the Christmas tree: “it's so high, how do you hang it?”. In her picture book There Was a Little Rabbit, a flying bunny accomplishes this task.

2025年在生肖上为蛇年，有几位小朋友将「蛇」元素与「2025」结合进行创作。Jasmine画下一条小蛇的故事：她幸运找到一处鲜花环绕的屋子冬眠安歇，大概是太好睡了吧？"she sleeps until 2025." 哎呀，蛇蛇一不小心就这么跨了个年！

The year 2025 is the Year of the Snake, and some young authors have combined the element of snake with 2025. Jasmine drew the story of a little snake who is lucky enough to find a house surrounded by flowers to hibernate for the winter. Maybe the house is just too cozy?  "She sleeps until 2025." Oops, the snake has accidentally slept all the way to our new year!

除了蛇以外，图书角还收录许多小兔子、熊、海龟、小鸟、猫咪绘本，动物是热门的绘本主角。Dodo显然有不少关于小猫咪的趣事想同大家分享，他创作了英文绘本About a cat. 这是一只长耳朵、擅长攀爬的猫咪，必要时刻，它还能变身超级英雄，用尾巴变成的火球打怪。让我们一起说，谢谢小猫咪！

In addition to snakes, we have many picture books about rabbits, bears, turtles, birds and cats. Animals are popular picture book protagonists. Dodo obviously has a lot of interesting stories about cats that he wants to share, and he has created the English picture book About a Cat. This is a cat with long ears who is good at climbing, and if necessary, he can transform into a superhero to fight monsters with a fire ball tail. Let's all say thank you, kitty!

小动物是孩子们的心头好，公主也不例外。在ECE娃娃的公主梦里，有些小朋友似乎对公主有不一样的想象：除了标志性的美貌与漂亮衣衫，她们还很英勇。在Elvin的绘本Mommy and Baby Ghosts and a Princess里，是公主吃掉了让幽灵都感到害怕的怪兽。

Animals are a hit with kids, and so are princesses! In ECE students’ princess dreams, some children seem to imagine princesses in a different way: they are not as weak as the stereotypical princess. These princesses are very heroic. In Elvin's picture book Mommy and Baby Ghosts and a Princess, it's the princess who eats the monster that terrifies the ghosts.

小朋友的绘本里既有逗趣的奇思妙想，亦不乏细腻的日常观察。Elsa想象这世界上存在一种“挠痒痒草”，春来发芽，它们看到路人便欣喜凑过去，却引得踩到挠痒痒草的人连连大喊：“好痒啊！！”咦？仔细想想，在野外，我们似乎也见过这种草呢？Sophia设计了一本《配色书》，用混色彩铅刷出每日变幻的光线，“第五天，又有一道美丽的光照亮小女孩的眼睛”“第六天，有一道美丽的光，但不如第五天的光美丽”，小小年纪，她对生活的感知与创作巧思已叫人惊叹。

Children's picture books are full of amusing whimsical ideas as well as subtle everyday observations. Elsa imagines that there exists a kind of “Tickling Grass” in the world, which sprouts in spring, and when they see passers-by, they will be happy to go over to them, but the person who steps on the tickling grass will cry out, “It's so itchy!!!”. Come to think of it, we seem to have seen this grass in the wild! Sophia designed a Coloring Book, using many color pencils to brush out the daily changing light, “On the fifth day, another beautiful light shines in the little girl's eyes”. “On the sixth day, there is a beautiful light, but it is not as beautiful as the light on the fifth day”. At such a young age, her perception of life and ingenuity in creation are already amazing.

内容、配色、排版创意之外，ECE学子也开始尝试更大的开本、与更灵活的呈现方式，如镂空、简易立体机关等。如有时间，我们诚挚邀请你在大堂图书角驻足片刻，欣赏孩子们的作品；读到喜爱的故事书，也请别吝啬在留言板上给小作者们点赞留言！FLIS鼓励学子的个性表达，也珍惜每一份来之不易的创作冲动——或许这些作品也给你带来了灵感？一起试试吧！

The creativity of ECE students in making picture books is not only reflected in the content, color scheme and stories, but the young authors have also begun to experiment with larger openings and more flexible presentations, such as hollowing out pages and simple pop-up books. If you have time, we invite you to stop by the book corner in the lobby and enjoy the children's work. If you read a favorite picture book, please don't be shy and leave a comment on the message board for the young authors! FLIS encourages the students' individual expression, and treasures every creative impulse - perhaps these works have inspired you as well? Let's give it a try!