Finding wonderland

Her latest novel, targeting young readers, features beautiful illustrations.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Hong Ying began to read children's books in 2006 before Sybil's birth. In 2012, Hong Ying began to create stories for her daughter who by then was bored of the books she had. Two years later, she published her first children's book, The Girl from the French Fort, which has bilingual text with pictures by British illustrator Cherry Denman.

She continued to cooperate with world-acclaimed illustrators for Mimidola, paying special attention to the paper used and the colors for illustrations, according to Zhao Ping from the People's Literature Publishing House.

"We observed a global trend that many acclaimed writers are picking up children's books, too," Qiu Huadong, literary critic and director of Lu Xun Academy, says, noting that Mimidola is interesting for it uses cultural details and resources from the East and South Asian countries.

Besides, it touches budding love and also serious social and environmental issues.

"Mimidola is adored by the many characters she meets, but there's no prince charming to save her from trouble. She has to be strong and fight for herself," Hong Ying says.

Though inspired by environmental problems, like the Beijing smog and social issues like missing children, Hong Ying says her book is really about parental education.

In the novel, Mimidola is separated from her single parent, the mother, at the beginning of the story. When she is alone, her two companions are her ability to love, passed down from her mother, and knowledge that came from reading books.

"All of us, children or grown-ups have to face disasters, setbacks or miseries that happen suddenly, maybe 90 percent of us are beaten, but Mimidola isn't. Her mother's education leads her to stand up and fight," Hong Ying says.

Besides novels, Hong Ying also writes poems and she is currently working and directing the film adaptation of her novel The Lord of Shanghai.

Contact the writer at meijia@chinadaily.com.cn