Guji Guji

Dan Bloom profiles children’s book writer/illustrator Chen Chih-yuan (陳致元) in the July issue of Taiwan Review. An earlier version of the article, discussing Chen’s translation into Japanese, appeared in The Foreigner – Japan. Chen’s book Guji Guji tells the story of a crocodile raised by ducks.

"My children’s book is, of course, a book for kids, but it contains themes that I feel are important. These are social issues that need to be discussed in all nations, including Taiwan, where ethnic issues make headlines all the time," Chen says. "Guji Guji is more than a pretty, syrupy children’s book for the library shelf. It contains a very important theme, I feel, and I guess it resonated in multi-ethnic America, too, where people from many different backgrounds have come together to form a complicated national identity."

Chen’s Guji Guji has appeared on The New York Times Bestseller list, and his books have been translated into English, Japanese, Korean, French and Hebrew. Guji Guji and On My Way to Buy Eggs were published in the United States by Kane / Miller. Chen is a native of Pingtung, Taiwan.

Technorati Tag(s) – books.

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