Foreign authors, illustrators a hit with children

"Local illustrators are good, but they tend to imitate what's already popular on the market, like Japanese manga," said Ikuko Ishikawa, head of Poplar Kid's Republic bookstores in Shanghai, Beijing and Shengyang. "There's a lack of originality in storytelling and style."

Still, she added, "We have seen the emergence of a new breed of authors and illustrators in the past few years. The group is small but it is growing."

The bookstore chain, attached to a publishing company, has produced a series of picture books by Chinese authors and illustrators, including the award-winning "Monster Mountain," "The Morning Market of Lotus Town," and the "Monkey King, Nice."

The books have been well-received by critics but have yet to make much headway with young readers. Their sales tend to rely on directives from education authorities.

"I've never heard of these books," admitted Shanghai first-grade teacher Ye Ya.

She showed Shanghai Daily her reading list for students this semester. It included Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales and "The Little Girl at the Window‚" by Japanese author Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. None of the books on the list are from Chinese authors.

The gap that exists is not only between book creators and readers, but also between book creators and publishing houses.

"Publishers complain about a lack of local story illustrators, while illustrators complain about a lack of publishers willing to give them a chance," Wang Rengchun, a manager with the fair organizer, told Shanghai Daily.

To try to find common ground, the fair organizers initiated the Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition this year. Designed to highlight the work of promising illustrators, it attracted 253 entrants from China and offshore.

Michal Suska from Poland and Zhou Jieyuan from China won the Grand Prize in the competition. Chinese illustrators Shou Tao and Wang Xiaoxiao collected silver.

Renowned illustrator A Hua, who sat on the competition jury, admitted that many publishing houses don't treat illustrators and authors fairly.

"A publisher once cheated me out of some of the royalties I was due," he said. "That's why I resorted to self-publication. Now that self-publishing is becoming more popular in the industry, it's even more difficult for publishers to find good illustrators."

The creators of children's books get about 8 percent royalties from sales. That might boil down to about 10,000 yuan (US$1,600) for a book requiring more than a year's preparation.

Zhao Yufei, 25, who just graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York, wants to specialize in children's books. Her graduation project, "Planet No. 1301," was named as one of the Excellence Awards in the book fair competition. The book will be published next spring.

"The children's book market in America is already very mature," Zhao said. "But in China, it's not, so I think I can make a difference here."

But it won't be easy. She said she has had to take part-time jobs, like commercial illustrations, to make ends meet while she works on children's books.

"I know the road ahead will be difficult," she said. "But want to do what I love, and that means books for children."