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Die Große Wörterfabrik (2009)

by Agnès de Lestrade(Favorite Author)

4.56 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

3939435260 (ISBN13: 9783939435266)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

mixtvision

review 1: Wow! Not only is the story beautiful, about the worth of speech and about the fact that having much is not always better than having little. But the most beautiful thing in this book are the illustrations. To me, the only other artist who is that good and works in children's books today is Saun Tan - and that's saying something, he is awesome! Actually, the comparison to Tan works on more levels than 'just' quality, it's actually a similar approach: Valeria Docampo uses the same kind of clear line and the same strong colours (lots of nuances in strong browns, yellows and reds). Plus she hides as many funny little details in her illustrations as Tan. They really are a thing of rare beauty. She knows exactly where to place an element and where some space is needed, and the l... moreight is just so pretty! This story book is a joy for adults as much as for kids, and I wouldn't be surprised if it became a classic.
review 2: This book was originally written in French (the version of which I have not read). The first version I　read was in Chinese and is titled "The Word Factory" (the Chinese version is not an option on GoodReads). The pictures are beautiful with contrasting colors like dark browns and greys (the colors of most printed words) with bright reds that portray all the subtleties, ominousness and brightness that a world economy based on the cost of words would create. In the meantime, the narrative focuses around the world of words, their impact on people, the environment and commerce. The entire book creates wonderful and striking metaphors for the connections between money, education, class and self-empowerment. And this is a children's book! So I was of course excited to purchase and read the English (my native language) version of this book. Unfortunately, the English version of this story has been filtered through the lenses of the publishers at the American Psychological Association, who have focused the themes of the book around it being "a story about self-expression". Now don't get me wrong: as an artist myself, I know all about the importance of self-expression. And certainly, self-expression is one of the themes of this book. However, the APA seems to think it is the *only* theme of this book, and has used a translated version that seems to support this theme by altogether omitting several beautiful sentences and phrases that don't seem to connect to self-expression but do support the creation of Lestrade's beautiful world. Granted, I have also not read the original-language version, but I find it hard to imagine the Chinese translators adding sentences that simply didn't exist in the original. They wouldn't have much reason to do that. I also know that translating is not (or at least should not be!) a direct, word-for-word endeavor. However, the omission of entire sentences is not translating. As such, in a book that is not made of many words to begin with, and in a book that focuses on the economy of words, I find it strange that the English translation would fail to stay true to the original words of the book. Perhaps the APA didn't have the money to buy them? Or perhaps the APA didn't have the academic wealth to let the story just speak for itself instead of hitting people over their heads with "self-expression".Translation aside, the book has been very inspiring for me personally. Its quiet messages of perseverance, creative communication, survival, and self-value carry a lot of resonance. The pictures alone speak volumes. But dammit, I think I need to go learn French now. ;-) less

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