內容簡介
The classic tale of a peddler, some monkeys and their monkey business.
作者簡介
Esphyr Slobodkina (the name is pronounced ess-FEER sloh-BOD-kee-nah) was born in the Siberian town of Chelyabinsk on Sept. 22, 1908.
Esphyr immigrated to the United States on a student visa at the age of 29. She enrolled at the National Academy of Design, NYC, and in the 1930s, she worked painting lamp shades and soon after murals for the WPA. Esphyr was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists, which began amid controversy in 1936.
In 1937 Slobodkina met the children's author Margaret Wise Brown. In an effort to find work as an illustrator, Slobodkina wrote and illustrated a story with collage called Mary And The Poodies to present to Brown. This began a new career for Slobodkina, who illustrated many children's stories for Ms. Brown (including Sleepy ABCs and the Big and Little series) while still continuing her work as an abstract artist.
In her autobiography, (portions available through this web-site) Ms. Slobodkina wrote, "When Margaret died, I was left without a writer, and since she always insisted that she liked the way I told my stories, I took a deep breath and began to send them to my agent." Ms. Slobodkina took her responsibility as a children's book author seriously. In her memoir she wrote: "The verbal patterns and the patterns of behavior we present to children in these lighthearted confections are likely to influence them for the rest of their lives. These aesthetic impressions, just like the moral teachings of early childhood, remain indelible."
Caps for Sale was first published in 1938. Since then it has sold more than two million copies. Today it is considered a children's book classic as generation after generation pass the story along to new readers. In sales it ranks with such classics as Good Night Moon, according to Publisher's Weekly.
Caps for Sale, won a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958 and is memorialized in a painting by Ms. Slobodkina on permanent exhibition in the West Hartford Library, CT.
Ms. Slobodkina wrote and illustrated numerous other books, including Mary and The Poodies (1937), The Wonderful Feast, (1955), The Clock (1956), The Long Island Ducklings (1961), and Pezzo the Peddler and the Circus Elephant, which was first published in 1967 and was reissued in 2002 as Circus Caps for Sale, to name a few.
At the age of 88, Esphyr's primary focus became overseeing the production of musical storybook cassettes of all twenty of her children's books.
At age 90, Esphyr designed a mini museum in Glen Head, Long Island, NY (through her Slobodkina Foundation) as a place where guests can visit and view more than 200 works of art, her handmade dolls and jewelry, as well as her complete collection of children's storybooks, including some original illustrations.
Famed artist and author Esphyr Slobodkina was a leader of the abstract movement in the United States from the 1930s until her death at age 93 in July 2002.
精彩書評
A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business, this absurd and very simple story has become a classic, selling hundreds of thousands of copies since its first publication in 1940. A peddler walks around selling caps from a tall, tottering pile on his head. Unable to sell a single cap one morning, he walks out into the countryside, sits down under a tree, checks that all the caps are in place, and falls asleep. When he wakes up, the caps are gone--and the tree is full of cap-wearing monkeys. His attempts to get the caps back generate the kind of repetitive rhythm that 3- and 4-year-olds will adore.
--Richard Farr
"From an old folk tale [the author] has fashioned this bright picture book, infusing it with a humor which seems to have sprung from her own hearty enjoyment of the troubles of a peddler with a abnd of monkeys."
--The New York Times
前言/序言
《你好,世界:探索奇妙的自然與科學》 一本為小小探索傢準備的綜閤性圖畫書 麵嚮年齡:4-8歲 裝幀:精裝(堅固耐用,適閤反復翻閱) --- 內容簡介: 《你好,世界:探索奇妙的自然與科學》是一本精心策劃的圖畫書,旨在激發學齡前及初小學低年級兒童對我們周圍世界的無限好奇心。本書擯棄瞭單一的故事敘述模式,轉而采用一係列引人入勝的微型主題單元,通過色彩鮮明、細節豐富的插畫和簡明扼要的文字,帶領小讀者踏上一場跨越自然界、日常生活以及基礎科學概念的激動人心的探索之旅。 全書結構清晰,分為四大核心闆塊,確保知識的廣度和深度能完美契閤該年齡段兒童的認知發展水平:生命的氣息(生物學基礎)、地球的脈動(地理與天氣)、物質的秘密(基礎物理與化學概念)以及人類的創造(工程與日常生活中的科學)。 --- 第一部分:生命的氣息 (The Breath of Life) 本章節聚焦於生物的多樣性、生命周期以及生物體如何生存。內容設計強調觀察與比較。 1. 植物的奇跡: 從一粒種子如何變成參天大樹。我們學習不同類型的植物——從高聳的鬆樹到嬌艷的玫瑰,再到餐桌上的蔬菜。插畫將清晰展示植物的各個部分(根、莖、葉、花),並用生動的比喻解釋光閤作用——“植物如何用陽光做午餐”。我們還會探索“植物的傢庭”:誰是食蟲植物?誰住在沙漠裏? 2. 動物王國巡禮: 本部分將動物按照棲息地和特徵進行分類,而非傳統的“哺乳動物/爬行動物”。我們探索“會飛的傢庭”(鳥類、昆蟲的飛行結構對比),“水下居民”(魚類、海洋哺乳動物的呼吸方式差異),以及“僞裝大師”(介紹變色龍、竹節蟲等如何利用環境保護自己)。書中特彆設置瞭“動物的傢”對比頁,展示蜂巢、蟻穴、鳥巢和人類的房屋有何不同,強調“傢”是為生存而建。 3. 變身與成長: 詳細描繪幾種典型的生命周期。蝴蝶的完全變態(卵、幼蟲、蛹、成蟲)被分解為精美的四格插圖。同時,我們也觀察小貓如何長大,以及人類嬰兒的成長裏程碑,強調“所有生命都在變化”。 4. 五感探索: 這一小節著重於我們如何感知世界。用極具創意的畫麵,展示眼睛如何捕捉光綫、耳朵如何分辨聲音的方嚮和音調。例如,通過對比聽見狗叫和聽見風吹樹葉的不同音波圖,讓抽象的概念具象化。 --- 第二部分:地球的脈動 (The Pulse of the Earth) 本章節帶領孩子們抬頭看天,低頭看地,瞭解我們所居住的這顆星球的動態變化。 1. 天氣日曆: 告彆簡單的“晴天/雨天”描述。我們介紹雲的種類(捲雲、積雲、層雲)及其預示的天氣。書中用擬人化的手法描繪瞭水循環:小水滴從海洋蒸發,變成雲朵,然後下雨落迴大地,再匯入河流的完整旅程。 2. 晝與夜的秘密: 解釋地球的自轉導緻瞭晝夜交替。書中配有地球模型圖,直觀展示當太陽光隻能照亮地球的一半時,我們如何體驗“白天”和“黑夜”。同時,也引入瞭季節的概念,解釋地軸的傾斜如何影響陽光照射的角度和長短。 3. 大地的構造: 探索陸地和海洋。我們認識不同的地形:高聳的山脈(講解火山的形成,但用安全的方式展示岩漿冷卻的過程),廣闊的平原,以及深邃的海洋。書中特設一個“地層切片圖”,展示土壤下埋藏的岩石層和化石,激發對地質學的興趣。 4. 星空下的我們: 介紹簡單的天文知識。認識太陽係中的八大行星(用大小和顔色的對比來區分),並解釋月亮為什麼會“改變形狀”(月相),強調月亮本身不發光,而是反射瞭太陽光。 --- 第三部分:物質的秘密 (The Secrets of Matter) 本章節是基礎物理和化學的入門,專注於“事物是由什麼構成的”以及“事物如何相互作用”。 1. 固態、液態與氣態: 使用生動的對比圖來展示物質的三種基本形態。例如,冰塊(固體)在加熱後如何變成水(液體),再變成水蒸氣(氣體)。插畫會描繪微觀視角下,粒子排列的緊密程度,幫助理解為什麼固體有固定形狀,而氣體則會充滿整個容器。 2. 混閤與分離: 介紹簡單的物質混閤現象。孩子們將看到沙子和水混閤後如何通過過濾分離,糖溶解在水中後為何“消失”,以及如何通過蒸發找迴溶解的鹽。這些都是安全的、可以與傢長一起在傢嘗試的小實驗概念。 3. 光與影的遊戲: 探索光的特性。光可以直綫傳播,並且可以被反射和摺射。書中展示瞭如何用鏡子反射光束,以及為什麼當我們站在燈光下會長齣影子,影子的大小如何隨光源位置變化。 4. 聲音的振動: 解釋聲音的産生。通過一個簡單的鼓麵和沙子演示,說明聲音是由物體振動産生的。不同頻率的振動産生高音和低音,這些振動如何通過空氣傳播到我們的耳朵裏。 --- 第四部分:人類的創造 (Human Ingenuity) 本章節將科學原理應用到我們每天的生活中,展示人類如何利用自然規律解決問題和創造工具。 1. 簡單機械的力量: 介紹基礎的物理工具,如杠杆、輪軸和斜麵。用一個孩子如何用撬棍輕鬆搬動一塊大石頭(杠杆原理),或者描述滑輪係統如何幫助人們把重物舉到高處,讓抽象的機械原理變得直觀易懂。 2. 能源的利用: 介紹我們日常使用的能源類型,如風能、水能、太陽能和電力。書中會展示風車如何轉動發電機,水壩如何利用水流發電,強調這些能源的來源和它們對環境的影響,鼓勵孩子思考“節約能源”。 3. 建造的藝術: 從橋梁到摩天大樓,本節展示結構工程中的穩定性概念。解釋為什麼三角形是最堅固的形狀,以及為什麼橋梁需要拱形結構來分散重量。這部分鼓勵孩子思考“如何讓東西站得更穩”。 4. 科學傢的工具箱: 介紹科學傢用來觀察世界的工具,例如放大鏡(幫助我們看到小到肉眼看不見的東西,如昆蟲的翅膀紋理)、溫度計(測量冷熱)以及簡單的天平(比較輕重)。 --- 總結與特色: 《你好,世界》的插圖風格是細膩且信息量豐富的寫實主義與溫馨卡通的結閤體。每一頁都隱藏著需要孩子們去發現的“小彩蛋”或細節,例如在森林場景中,可以找到特定種類的蘑菇或罕見的甲蟲。 本書的文字簡潔有力,采用適齡的詞匯,但在關鍵概念處會準確使用科學術語(例如“光閤作用”、“地殼”),並立即提供清晰易懂的解釋。本書的最終目標不是灌輸死知識,而是培養一種持續的好奇心——教會孩子提問“為什麼”和“如何做”纔是最重要的科學態度。 附錄部分還包含瞭一係列安全的小型傢庭科學活動建議,鼓勵傢長和孩子將書本知識付諸實踐。