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Five new picture books to help celebrate Mother’s Day include “A Mom for Umande,” about a zoo-born baby gorilla.
图文：米埃斯·范·侯特(Mies van Hout)。 28 pp. Lemniscaat. $17.95. (Picture book; ages 1 to 6) 28页，Lemniscaat出版社，17.95美元，绘本，适合1至6岁。 “Surprise” may be an enigmatic title, but as readers progress through the dozen or so words the Dutch artist Mies van Hout illustrates, her intended meaning comes through beautifully. “Marveling,” “teasing,” “listening,” “enjoying”; each defines an aspect of motherhood — and it’s refreshing to get a break from that overused catchall, “love.” Van Hout’s pictures are surprising, too. Using what appear to be oil crayons on a black background, she draws fantastical birds with brilliant-hued plumage caring for their eggs and chicks. Though the illustrations have the loose, unstudied quality of a young child’s work, van Hout (“Happy,” “Friends”) shows her finesse in their ingenious compositions and her ability to convey expression in what could be blank avian eyes. “Surprise,” which has humor as well as sweetness, should appeal to children and perhaps especially to their mothers, whether they are still “yearning” for a new hatchling or at last letting go. 《惊喜》可能是个谜一样的书名，但随着读者阅读书中丹麦艺术家米埃斯·范·侯特绘制的几十个词，她的意图开始美丽地呈现出来。“惊奇”、“逗弄”、“倾听”、“享受”；每个词都是描绘身为人母的一面，同时又避免了那个包罗万象，被人滥用的字眼“爱”，不禁令人松一口气。范·侯特的配图也同样令人惊喜。她似乎是在黑色背景上使用油画棒作画，描绘出有着亮色羽毛的美丽鸟儿，照顾它们的蛋与幼雏。范·侯特是《快乐》(Happy)、《朋友》(Friends)等书的作者，插画有松散的、未受正规训练的儿童画风格，但她擅长独特的画面布局，以及用本来可能很空洞的鸟类的眼睛来传递感情，因此画面非常精致。《惊喜》既幽默又甜蜜，孩子们可能会喜欢，对母亲也格外有吸引力，不管她们是否仍在“憧憬”新生儿，或是已经准备好放手让子女远走高飞。 2. THE RUNAWAY HUG 2.《逃跑的拥抱》(The Runaway Hug)
文字：尼克·布兰德(Nick Bland)。 Illustrated by Freya Blackwood. 绘图：弗莱娅·布莱克伍德(Freya Blackwood)。 36 pp. Random House. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) 38页，兰登书屋(Random House)出版社，16.99美元，绘本，适合2至6岁。 Lucy, a little girl in zip-up pajamas, borrows her mother’s “very last hug” on her way up to bed. She passes the hug around the rest of the family until the final recipient, their rambunctious dog, takes it and runs “straight out the door.” The hug comes back “a lot more slobbery than before,” just in time for Lucy to return it to her mother when she comes to kiss her good night. The illustrator, Freya Blackwood, who is based in New South Wales, Australia, tips Nick Bland’s happy story into the realm of irresistible charm. Her deft watercolor-washed sketches of the big, messy household are full of realistic details: toilet paper unrolling onto the bathroom floor; a laundry room full of clothes in need of sorting, and toys and snacks left every which way. Amid the chaos, tangible love shines through. 露西是个穿拉链睡衣的小姑娘，把妈妈的“最后一个拥抱”待会自己的床上。她把这个拥抱传递给全家人，最后一位是家中那条吵闹的狗，得到拥抱后就“径直跑出门去”。这个拥抱自己回来了，露西把它还给妈妈，给她晚安吻，却发现这个拥抱变得“比以前爱流口水了”。画家弗莱娅·布莱克伍德现居澳大利亚新南威尔士，为尼克·布兰德的欢乐故事赋予了极其诱人的魅力。她以娴熟的水彩技巧画出了一个大大的，乱七八糟的加，里面有各种真实的细节：厕纸在厕所地上摊开着；洗衣房里都是没分类的衣物；玩具和小吃到处都是。一片乱七八糟之中，却可以感受到爱的光芒。 3. A GIFT FOR MAMA 3.《给妈妈的礼物》(A Gift for Mama)
文字：琳达·拉文·洛丁(Linda Ravin Lodding)。 Illustrated by Alison Jay. 绘图：艾莉森·杰(Alison Jan)。 32 pp. Alfred A. Knopf. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) 32页，阿尔弗莱德·A·科诺普夫(Alfred A. Knopf)出版社，17.99元，绘本，适合2至6岁。 In this tale set in 19th-century Vienna, where the author, Linda Ravin Lodding, once lived, a little boy embarks on a quest to find the perfect present for his mother. With “only a single coin,” Oskar can’t afford the lovely things he spies in the town’s elegant shop windows. But a creamy, full-blown rose is within his range. Immediately after he buys it, an artist offers to trade the rose for “a beautiful horsehair paintbrush.” Oskar imagines his mother painting exquisite scenes, and agrees. But passing the opera house, a conductor, having mislaid his baton, begs him to trade the brush for a sheet of music. And so on, until at one awful moment Oskar finds himself without any gift at all. Alison Jay uses quick-drying oil paint overlaid with a crackle varnish to give her illustrations an antique patina. She and Lodding create an attractive portrait of Vienna as a picturesque toy town inhabited by art lovers and well-mannered aristocrats, but in the end, the gift Oskar’s mother declares she likes best springs directly from nature. 故事设定在19世纪的维也纳（作者琳达·拉文·洛丁曾在维也纳生活），一个小男孩想送给妈妈一份最完美的礼物。这个名叫奥斯卡的小男孩，“只有一个硬币”，买不起他在镇上华丽的商店橱窗中看到的那些好东西。但他还是买到了一朵盛开的奶白色玫瑰。买到玫瑰之后，一个艺术家提出，要用一支“美丽的马尾毛油画笔”换这朵玫瑰。奥斯卡想象着妈妈用画笔画出美丽画面的样子，就答应了。但他走过歌剧院的时候，一个忘带指挥棒的指挥求他，愿意用一页乐谱换这支画笔。后面还有诸如此类的事情。最后奥斯卡发现自己根本没有任何礼物了。艾莉森·杰使用快干油彩覆盖在裂纹图层上，为她的画赋予一种古色古香之美。她和洛丁把维也纳描绘成一座迷人的玩具之城，充斥着艺术爱好者和彬彬有礼的贵族。全书最后，奥斯卡的妈妈得到了一份来自大自然的最好的礼物。 4. A MOM FOR UMANDE 4.《厄曼德的妈妈》(A Mom for Umande)
文字：玛利亚·福尔克纳(Maria Faulconer)。 Illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung. 绘图：苏珊·凯瑟琳·哈坦格(Susan Kathleen Hartung)。 32 pp. Dial. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 6) 32页，蒂阿尔(Dial)出版社，16.99美元，绘本，适合2至6岁。 It takes time for Umande, a zoo-born baby gorilla, to find the right mother. His biological mom is too young and inexperienced to care for him, so zookeepers take over that role until they find an older gorilla who is eager to treat him as her own. Maria Faulconer, herself an adoptive mother, bases “A Mom for Umande” on real events at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. The illustrations, by Susan Kathleen Hartung (“Dear Juno”), are simple, but colorful and appealing. Hartung gives all the gorillas friendly faces, and Umande’s keepers gaze at him with real affection as they crawl on all fours, groom his fur, and snuggle and tickle him. The book’s final spread, showing Umande and his new mom sleeping in each other’s arms, makes their long-awaited alliance seem meant to be. 在动物园出生的小猩猩厄德曼花了很长时间才找到合适的妈妈。他的亲生母亲太年轻，没有足够经验照顾他，所以动物园的饲养员们就承担起了母亲的角色，知道他们发现有一只年长的母猩猩愿意照料他。玛利亚·福尔克纳本人就领养了孩子，《厄德曼的妈妈》是根据发生在科罗拉多州科罗拉多泉的夏安妮山动物园以及俄亥俄的哥伦布动物园的真实故事改编的。插图由《亲爱的朱诺》(Dear Juno)的作者苏珊·凯瑟琳·哈坦格所绘，简洁但色彩丰富，引人入胜。哈坦格为所有猩猩赋予了友善的面孔，厄德曼的饲养员们带着真正的爱意凝视着它，四脚着地爬着，为他梳理毛发，和他依偎、玩闹。在书的最后一页，厄德曼和新妈妈拥抱着入睡，它们经历了漫长的寻找，现在注定要在一起。 5. WHERE’S MOMMY? 5.《妈妈去哪儿了?》(Where’s Mommy?)
文字：贝弗利·多诺弗里奥(Beverly Donofrio)。 Illustrated by Barbara McClintock. 绘图：芭芭拉·麦克林托克(Barbara McClintock)。 32 pp. Schwartz & Wade. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) 32页，施瓦茨与韦德(Schwartz & Wade)出版社，17.99美元，绘本，适合3至7岁。 Barbara McClintock, a four-time winner of the New York Times Best Illustrated award, whose style is often praised for its detailed, old-fashioned settings, shows her range in this entertaining and absorbing picture book about a family living in a glassy modernist house. Maria, a girl of about 5, has a secret: She’s made friends with a mouse! Maria fears that if her parents knew, “they’d get a cat.” As she prepares for bed, her mouse pal does the same, even to the moment when Maria calls for her mother to come tuck her in. She gets no answer in response, and Beverly Donofrio creates a moment of real tension when both girl and mouse panic that their mothers are “missing.” McClintock’s careful attention to the look of every object in each scene, from flowerpots to ventilation ducts to the frill on a pajama cuff, gives them all a sense of value and interest. Once they find each other, mother and daughter (human and rodent) turn out to have some important things in common. 芭芭拉·麦克林托克曾四次赢得《纽约时报》最佳绘本奖，她常常因其充满细节，老式风格的背景受人赞誉，这本有趣而吸引人的绘本展现了她的风格多样。这本书讲的是一个住在现代主义风格玻璃屋里的家庭。5岁的玛利亚有个秘密，她和一只老鼠交上了朋友！玛利亚怕爸爸妈妈知道，“他们有只猫”。她准备上床的时候，她的老鼠朋友也要睡觉了，玛利亚叫妈妈过来给她掖被子，老鼠也叫妈妈过来掖被子。结果两个妈妈都没有回应，贝弗利·多诺弗里奥写出了一个真正紧张的时刻，女孩和老鼠都担心各自的妈妈“不见了”。麦克林托克在每一幅画面上都细心描绘每种物品的样子，从花瓶到空调电线，再到睡衣上的流苏，为它们赋予质感和趣味。后来女儿们都找到了妈妈，显示出人类和老鼠之间有着非常重要的共同之处。 翻译：王相宜 |
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