那些值得等待的優(yōu)秀童書

Kevin Henkes是難得一見的天才型作家。從十幾歲開始，Kevin Henkes就知道自己想創(chuàng)作兒童書。除了文中提及的作品，他還創(chuàng)作過其它兒童小說和不少的圖畫書，如《阿文的小毯子》（Owen）和《朱利葉斯：世界的嬰兒》（Julius， the Baby of the World）。這些作品表現(xiàn)了人類的柔軟心靈、聰明才智和細(xì)膩情感，正是這些，促使人類不斷追尋自己的童年夢。Kevin Henkes說過，優(yōu)秀的童書需要花很多時間創(chuàng)作，而優(yōu)秀的作品也值得我們花時間去等待。

Those Excellent Kids’ Books Are Worth the Wait

On Waiting

Kelly McEvers （Host）： His fans may not know his name， but they love the characters in his books—Chrysanthemum， Wemberly， Kitten and her saucer of milk， Lilly and her plastic purse. They’re the creations of award-winning children’s author Kevin Henkes. His latest creations are 1）figurines—five of them sitting on a windowsill waiting for something to happen.

Kevin Henkes： （Reading） The owl with spots was waiting for the moon. The pig with the umbrella was waiting for the rain. The bear with the kite was waiting for the wind. The 2）puppy on the 3）sled was waiting for the snow. The rabbit with stars wasn’t waiting for anything in particular. He just liked to look out the window and wait.

McEvers： Kevin Henkes’ reading from his new book titled simply Waiting， something he says kids spend a lot of time doing.

Henkes： Wait your turn. Wait for your birthday. I mean， you wait for the end of the school day. You wait for snack time. You wait to graduate from your car seat. There is so， so much waiting in childhood.

M c E v e r s ： I w a s wondering if you could just read for us a little bit.

Henkes： Sure.

McEvers： Could you start the section that starts with sometimes？

Henkes： （Reading） Sometimes one or the other of them went away， but he or she always came back. Sometimes they slept， but mostly they waited. Sometimes gifts appeared. Once， a visitor arrived from far away. He stayed a while. Then he left and never returned.

McEvers： And he was a little elephant figurine...

Henkes： Yes.

McEvers： ...Who appeared on the windowsill， and then he got knocked off the windowsill and was broken.

Henkes： Yes， yes—never returned.

McEvers： （Sighing） Big stuff dealing with loss. I mean...

Henkes： Yeah， and it’s interesting. I’ve read the book now—I’m out on a tour， and when I read it to large groups， there’s this huge gasp. And then at the end when the cat arrives and there’s a surprise and there are kittens， there’s this huge collective sigh.

McEvers： You take on tough things—right？—in kids’lives？ You...

Henkes： Well， kids are tough， and kids are 4）resilient. And kids—you know， sometimes， I think， as adults， we think of them as—because they’re small in size， that they’re small in all ways. And they’re not. I mean， they have big feelings， and they， you know， have big eyes. And they see things. They hear things. They’re living life just the way an adult does. And I think sometimes， as adults， we forget that.

On how he became a children’s book author

McEvers： You seem like somebody who was pretty impatient， actually. You’ve known that you wanted to be a children’s book writer and illustrator since you were pretty young. Like， high school you knew. Is that right？

Henkes： Well， I grew up always wanting to be an artist， and it was in high school when I started to really like writing. And I was， you know， a junior in high school thinking about what I wanted to do with my life， and I thought it would be great if I could find a job in which I could both draw and paint， which I loved， and write， which was this new thing that I loved. And I thought children’s picture books would be the perfect job for me. It was a great combination of those skills. And that’s when I decided that’s what I wanted to do.

McEvers： Because I think a lot of people might say， oh， you know， I should probably write a children’s book someday.

Henkes： （Laughter）

McEvers： But， like， you were very determined. Like， by your...

Henkes： I was.

McEvers：...Freshman year of college， you were studying the art of publishing and you went to New York. I mean， tell us that story.

Henkes： Well， I went to New York from Wisconsin the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college. I made of list of my 10 favorite publishers. I’d studied them and I knew who I wanted to be published by. And I was so lucky my first choice—Greenwillow Books—Susan Hirschman， editor in chief—accepted my book while I was in New York. And it was one of the most memorable days of my life. But it’s interesting. Looking back， I think at 19 I had a certain confidence that I don’t know if I have at 54.

McEvers： （Laughter）

Henkes： I really thought I’ll fly to New York and I will come home with a contract for a book. I really， truly believed it.

McEvers： Well， your characters since then with that publisher and going forward all these years， have been， you know， hugely popular. The Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse and Lilly’s Big Day were these big hits. Kids line up at book stores to meet you. And yet， we don’t see these characters out there on purses and clothes and movies and comic books. You know， you’ve not franchised your characters. In fact， you haven’t done that many “Lilly” books， you know？ You take a long time to write your books. Why is that？

Henkes： Well， there are a lot of things that I’ve said no to， just to keep it pure. And also， you know， after Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse， which was very successful for me， I wrote another “Lilly” book right away. And Susan Hirschman， my editor at the time， rejected it， saying anyone would publish this， but I don’t think it’s good enough for you. And I think if we published it， you would probably be unhappy down the road. And I think that that was true. I really want everything that’s out there with my name on it to be as good as I think it can be. So they do take time and I do—there is a lot of waiting in this job. But I do want anything out there to be， you know， really， really good and the best that it can be. And so I’ll keep waiting until it’s right—till something seems exactly like.

On wanting his books to give kids a sense of home

McEvers： Did you ever read your books to your kids？

Henkes： A little bit， not a lot. I did because I wanted them to know what I did every day up in the 5）attic room. The thing that I started doing was reading to them at breakfast， reading novels， which was a great thing because I would read to both of them and my wife would be making the lunches. So all four of us， over the course of weeks， we’d have this shared experience where we discuss it and talk about it. My daughter said she didn’t want old-fashioned books， but we raced through the “Little House” books. My son decided he didn’t want any books in which the 6）protagonists were girls. But I said， let’s just try Ramona and he， of course， loved it. So it was， I think， a good experience for them. I think it opened their eyes. And it was a great， great thing to do. And we kept track. We made a list in the back hall of every book that we had read together， and I think—now they’re 20 and 18 and I think the list was， you know， 120-some books.

McEvers： Wow， nice.

Henkes： Not novels.

McEvers： （Laughter） Did your writing change as the kids grew up？ I mean， did you get a different perspective on things？

Henkes： I don’t think so. People used to assume that I had kids long before I did. And then when my wife was pregnant with our first child， people would say， oh， now you’re going to have so many more ideas， and it didn’t really happen. And I think some of the greats in this field were not parents. And I think it probably comes from some other place deep inside. I don’t think you have to have children to write for them.

McEvers： You were born to do this from the beginning.

Henkes： I think so. I kind of feel that. I sense that.

McEvers： Well， Kevin Henkes， thank you so much for talking to us.

Henkes： You’re welcome.

關(guān)于《等待》

凱莉·麥克弗斯（主持人）：他的粉絲也許不知道他的名字，但是他們喜歡他書中的角色——克麗桑絲美美菊花、溫布利、小貓咪和她的那碟牛奶、莉莉和她的小皮包。他們都是榮獲多項大獎的童書作家凱文·亨克斯所創(chuàng)作的角色。他創(chuàng)作的最新角色是一群小雕像，他們的其中五個坐在窗臺上等待著某事發(fā)生。

凱文·亨克斯：（誦讀）滿身斑點(diǎn)的貓頭鷹在等待月出。打著傘的小豬在等待下雨。拿著風(fēng)箏的小熊在等待刮風(fēng)。雪橇上的小狗在等待下雪。滿身星星圖案的兔子沒有在等特別的什么。他只是喜歡望向窗外，然后等待。

麥克弗斯：凱文·亨克斯朗讀的文字出自他的新書，這本書的名字很簡單——《等待》，他說這是孩子們花很多時間做的事。

亨克斯：等著輪到你。等待你的生日。我的意思是，你等著放學(xué)。等著吃點(diǎn)心。等著長大不用再坐汽車的兒童座椅。童年就是這樣，有那么多需要等待的事情。

麥克弗斯：你能否再為我們讀一些呢？

亨克斯：當(dāng)然可以。

麥克弗斯：你能從“有時候”開頭的那部分讀起嗎？

亨克斯：（誦讀）有時候他們中的一個或另一個會離開，但他或她總會回來。有時候他們會睡覺，但大部分時間他們都在等待。有時候，禮物也會不期而至。有一次，一位拜訪者從很遠(yuǎn)的地方來，他只停留了一小會兒，就離開了，之后再也沒有回來過。

麥克弗斯：那是一只小象的雕像……

亨克斯：是的。

麥克弗斯：……他在窗臺上出現(xiàn)過，然后掉下窗臺，摔壞了。

亨克斯：沒錯，沒錯，再也回不來了。

麥克弗斯：（嘆氣）如何看待失去是個大話題。我的意思是……

亨克斯：是的，很有趣。我現(xiàn)在讀的這本書——我在巡回演講時，當(dāng)我將它讀給一大群人聽，他們會發(fā)出這種巨大的倒抽氣聲。然后，最后當(dāng)貓咪來到的時候，很出乎意料，居然有小貓咪，他們會集體發(fā)出這種巨大的嘆氣聲。

麥克弗斯：你在呈現(xiàn)棘手的事情，對嗎？在孩子們的生活中的？你……

亨克斯：這么說吧，孩子是很堅強(qiáng)的，恢復(fù)力也很強(qiáng)。你知道，孩子有時候，我覺得，就和大人一樣，我們認(rèn)為他們——他們身量小，就在各個方面都很弱小?？墒遣⒎侨绱?。我的意思是，他們有很大的感觸，你知道，他們有大大的眼睛。他們看得到，聽得到。他們就像大人一樣過著自己的生活。我想，有些時候，就和大人一樣，只是我們這些大人忽略了而已。

如何成為童書作家

麥克弗斯：說真的，你似乎是一個非常熱切的人。大家都知道你在很小的時候就立志成為一名童書作家和插畫家。好像是高中的時候你就知道。對嗎？

亨克斯：說實(shí)話，我從小就一直想成為一名藝術(shù)家，那是在高中的時候，我開始非常喜歡寫作。你知道，我那時還是一個高中二年級的學(xué)生，就在考慮我以后想要做什么，我想，如果我可以找到一份工作，既可以繼續(xù)我之前喜歡的繪畫，又可以從事我現(xiàn)在的新愛好——寫作，那就太完美了。我覺得創(chuàng)作兒童繪本圖書對我來說就是一份再適合不過的工作。它將這些技能完美地結(jié)合。就在那時，我決定了想要做的事。

麥克弗斯：因為我想很多人都會說：“噢，你知道，或許有一天我會寫一本童書?！?/p>

亨克斯：（笑）

麥克弗斯：但是，你是下定決心了的。就像，在你……

亨克斯：確實(shí)如此。

麥克弗斯：……大一的時候，你在學(xué)習(xí)出版藝術(shù)，去了紐約。我的意思是，給我們說說那段經(jīng)歷吧。

亨克斯：好吧，我是在大一要上大二的那個夏天從威斯康星州去的紐約。我給自己中意的10家出版社列了一張清單。我對它們進(jìn)行了一番研究，然后就知道我想要哪家出版社出版我的作品。幸運(yùn)的是，我在紐約的時候，我的第一選擇——綠柳圖書公司的主編蘇珊·赫斯曼認(rèn)可了我的書。那是我人生中最難以忘懷的日子之一。但有趣的是，回過頭來看，我想，19歲的時候，我有某種自信，可是這種自信，我不知道在54歲的時候是否還會有。

麥克弗斯：（笑）

亨克斯：那時我是真的認(rèn)為我飛去紐約，然后我就可以帶著一紙出書合同回家。當(dāng)時我確實(shí)，確實(shí)是那樣堅信的。

麥克弗斯：嗯，自那次與那家出版社的合作以后，你創(chuàng)作的角色，這些年不斷發(fā)展，你知道，一直非常受歡迎?！独蚶虻淖仙∑ぐ泛汀独蚶虻拇笕兆印范硷L(fēng)靡一時。孩子們在書店排著隊見你?？墒牵覀儾]有看到這些角色出現(xiàn)在錢包上、衣服上、電影里和連環(huán)畫中。你知道，你至今沒有出售你所創(chuàng)作角色的特許經(jīng)營權(quán)。事實(shí)上，至今為止你都沒有寫那么多的“莉莉”叢書，你知道嗎？你寫書需要很長時間。為什么？

亨克斯：這么說吧，我對很多事情都會拒絕，只是為了讓它保持一種純粹。同時，你知道，在《莉莉的紫色小皮包》取得對我來說非常大的成功之后，我馬上寫了另一本“莉莉”的書。那時，我的編輯蘇珊·赫斯曼把它退掉了。她說：“任何人都會出版這本書，但我認(rèn)為對你而言它還不夠好，如果我們出版了它，將來的某個時候你也許會不快樂?！蔽艺J(rèn)為她說的是對的。我確實(shí)想要有我署名的所有出版物能和我認(rèn)為的一樣好。所以，寫書確實(shí)需要時間，我也一樣——在這份工作中有很多等待。我確實(shí)希望所有發(fā)表的作品，你知道，是真的，真的非常好，完全達(dá)到了它的極致。所以，我會一直等待，直到它足夠好——直到它看起來（和想象中的）完全一樣。

希望自己的書給孩子一種家的感覺

麥克弗斯：你給你自己的孩子讀過你的書嗎？

亨克斯：一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)，沒有很多。我那樣做是想讓他們知道，我每天在閣樓的那個房間里搗弄什么。我開始做的是在吃早餐的時候讀給他們聽，讀小說，那是一件非常棒的事，因為我讀書給他們兩個聽，而我的妻子在準(zhǔn)備午餐。所以，我們四個，在幾周的時間里，我們共有這段一起探討，一起談?wù)摰慕?jīng)歷。我女兒說，她不喜歡老套的書，但是我們快速掠過了“小木屋”系列叢書。我兒子不想要那些主人公都是女生的書，但是，我說，讓我們試試《拉蒙納》，然后，當(dāng)然他很喜歡。所以我覺得那對他們是很好的一種經(jīng)歷，開闊了他們的眼界，是非常非常值得做的一件事。而且我們還記錄下閱讀的動態(tài)。我們在后廳列了一張我們一起讀過的書的清單，我想——現(xiàn)在他們一個20歲，一個18歲，你知道，我想那時清單上的書是120本一組的。

麥克弗斯：哇，好極了。

亨克斯：不是小說。

麥克弗斯：（笑）在孩子長大后，你的寫作方式變了嗎？我的意思是，你會從另一個角度看事情嗎？

亨克斯：我認(rèn)為并非如此。在我有孩子很久之前，人們就常常在猜想我已經(jīng)有了孩子。然后，我妻子懷第一胎的時候，人們會說：“噢，現(xiàn)在你會有更多的想法。”可事實(shí)并非如此。我認(rèn)為在這一領(lǐng)域的一些大師并沒有做父母。我想它可能是來自內(nèi)心深處的其它地方。我認(rèn)為你沒有必要為了給孩子寫作而去生孩子。

麥克弗斯：你一開始就是天生做這一行的。

亨克斯：我想是的。我似乎能感覺到，能領(lǐng)悟到。

麥克弗斯：好吧，凱文·亨克斯，非常感謝你與我們交流。

亨克斯：不客氣。