The Only China, a book of pencil drawings from a Chinese freelance illustrator, Guo Jing, joined the New York Times Top 10 picture books list recently for telling the story of a child who wants to visit her grandfather one snowy winter morning after she was left alone by at home by her parents who have gone to work.

Scenes from the Only Child. [Photo/Shanxi Daily]

The Only Child. [Photo/Metropolis Express]

So, the girl gets on a bus but gets off it at the wrong stop, then gets lost in a forest where the animals help her find her way home and reunite with her worried parents, with the black and white illustrations without words allowing readers to imagine the child’s marvel in the magic world.

The 32-year-old Guo is from the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province and graduated from the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. She says the story is based on her own experience when she lost her way in a forest, except the she didn't get help from animals there. She explains that she wants to convey the complexities of love, loneliness, leaving, and reuniting of children in one-child families in recent years.

Guo Jing. [Photo/Metropolis Express]

The reader can also get a taste of Taiyuan, with its local houses, old street scenes and buses and, Guo adds, she finished a second work recently and "I'll keep grounding my books in my hometown and try to tell more about Taiyuan."

The New York Time list is a guide for parents looking for books for their children at year's end.