Reading as play | 文字与图画之间的游乐场

瑞典马尔默大学高级讲师，英语文学研究博士，

《书鸟：国际儿童文学杂志》编辑

对孩子们来说，阅读就像是一场冒险。儿童读物就该满足孩子们爱玩的天性，这种想法源自刘易斯·卡罗尔（Lewis Carroll）在1865年出版的《爱丽丝漫游奇境》（Alice in Wonderland）。书中的爱丽丝走进光怪陆离的奇幻世界，她的嬉戏探奇推动着故事情节向前发展。

书中没有明显的道德说教，整本书都是让孩子们尽情发挥想象力的游乐场。人们通常认为《爱丽丝漫游奇境》标志着说教式儿童文学寿终正寝，这本书开启了一个新时代，作家们从此开始创作好玩又有趣的儿童读物。

阅读即游戏

“阅读即游戏”的理念并不要求文字叙事和视觉叙事形成完美对称；事实上，假如视觉内容仅仅反映文本叙述，读者的阅读体验反倒不如二者之间存在错位时那样精彩。例如，英国插画家兼作家帕特·哈钦斯（Pat Hutchins）1968 年创作的《母鸡萝丝去散步》（Rosie’s Walk）讲了两个完全不同的故事。在文字故事里，母鸡萝丝像往常一样出门散步，一路上无惊无险；但插图讲述了另一个故事——一只狐狸一路上都在偷袭萝丝，却屡屡失败。只靠文字，难以表达出这种平行叙事。

“有了文字和图画的搭配，曾被视为不适合小读者的禁忌话题也开始进入儿童读物”

有了文字和图画之间这种有趣的搭配，曾被视为不适合小读者的禁忌话题也开始进入儿童读物。美国作家兼插画家莫里斯·桑达克（Maurice Sendak）的《野兽国》（Where The Wild Things Are）（1963年）讲述了一个小男孩如何管理愤怒情绪的故事。

桑达克调整了图画的边界，让画面逐渐扩大，直到铺满一整页，这是作者在邀请小读者与马克斯（Max）一起踏上冒险之旅。随着画面不断扩大，文字渐渐消失，为读者开创了游戏空间。这些无字的书页讲述了一个人如何管理愤怒情绪并与自己和解的过程。去掉引导性文字，让小读者能够以自己的方式走近书中人物。

无声的书

无字绘本是一种比较新的儿童文学形式。全书没有明显的文字叙述，这就要求插画师掌握一些技巧，例如利用能够引发儿童共鸣的图像隐喻。在某种程度上，去掉文字之后可以更轻松地表达某些复杂难解或难以言传的内容。

乌克兰插画家亚历山大·沙托欣（Oleksandr Shatokhin） 的无字绘本《黄蝴蝶》（Yellow Butterfly）（2023年）通过一个小女孩的眼睛描绘了战争，黄蝴蝶对小女孩来说象征着希望。在《红树》（The Red Tree）（2001年）一书中，澳大利亚作家兼插画家陈志勇（Shaun Tan）运用超现实风格的黑暗图画来描绘抑郁症。韩国插画家苏西·李（Suzy Lee）用无字绘本《庄园》（Estate）（2022年）描绘了古典音乐。

“无字绘本能够让小读者们把自身经历和知识投射到故事中”

无字还打破了语言障碍，让所有孩子都能读懂这本书。小读者可以把自身经历和知识投射到书中，把原本由成人创作的内容变成自己的故事。

A playground between words and images

Images in children's books are much more than simple illustrations for the text. They add another dimension, allowing young readers to create their own engagement with the characters.

Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang 

Reading, for children, is akin to adventure. The idea of catering to children’s playful instinct can be traced back to the publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland in 1865. Alice's playful exploration of the topsy-turvy Wonderland drives the story. 

There are no explicit moral values taught in the book, rendering it a playground for children to engage with their wildest imagination. This book is often credited as the one that marked the end of the era of didacticism in children’s literature, ushering in a new era where authors began producing delightful or entertaining children’s books. 

Reading as play

The idea of “reading as play” doesn’t require a perfectly symmetrical combination of textual and visual storytelling; in fact, when the visual only mirrors what the text narrates, the experience is less intense than when there are gaps between those two elements. British illustrator and writer Pat Hutchins’s Rosie’s Walk from 1968, for example, presents two different stories. While the textual storytelling only mentions Rosie the hen’s very normal walk without any conflict, the illustration tells the additional story of a fox’s failed attempts to ambush Rosie throughout her walk. This parallel storytelling is not an easy thing to convey through words only. 

"Entanglement of words and images open up the possibility of presenting topics previously considered taboo"

Ludic entanglement of words and images open up the possibility of presenting topics previously considered taboo for young readers. Where The Wild Things Are (1963) by American author and illustrator Maurice Sendak tells the story of a boy dealing with his anger. Sendak’s play with borders and the progressive expansion of the images until they bleed into the edges of the page is his invitation for the young readers to embark together with Max on his adventure. As the images continue expanding, the text slowly disappears, offering a playful space for the readers. The process of dealing with one’s anger and making peace with oneself is told in those wordless pages: the lack of directing words allows the young reader to create their own engagement with the characters. 

Silent books

Wordless picture books are a relatively new format in children’s literature. The lack of explicit textual narrative in the whole book requires the illustrator to master skills such as creation of pictorial metaphors that resonate with children. To some extent, the removal of words also makes it easier to convey difficult, unspeakable things. 

In Yellow Butterfly (2023), a wordless picture book by Ukrainian illustrator Oleksandr Shatokhin, war is seen through the eyes of a young girl who finds hope in the symbolism of yellow butterflies. In The Red Tree (2001), Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan uses surreal, dark images to depict depression, while Korean illustrator Suzy Lee portrays classical music through her wordless book Estate (2022). 

"Wordless books allow young readers to project their own experience and knowledge onto the story"

The language barrier is also broken by this wordlessness, granting any children access to the book. Young readers can project their own experience and knowledge into the book and own the story initially created by adults.

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