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Discovering literature and following the stories behind your favourite authors, this is Ink&Quill, I am your host Yang Yong.
What you are about to hear are some lines we frequently see either on the internet or in mass media:
"Everybody is beautiful in their own way."
"Just be yourself, man, be proud of who you are."
"You should never be ashamed of how someone else sees you."
As these phrases run rampant in modern society, it seems that our culture has become more and more tolerant to individualism and uniqueness.
In reality, these beautiful inspirational notes are just words. After all, we are gregarious animals. Who wants to be the high school outcast or the misfit kid on the block?
So on today's Ink&Quill, we speak to two authors, both of whom touch on matters of personal growth, embracing individuality and celebrating difference.
First, let's listen to the phone conversation between our reporter Shiyu and British multi-award winning writer Holly Smale, whose "Geek Girl" series has been an international smash hit.
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You are listening to Ink&Quill. I am Yang Yong.
Our next guest is simply fascinating. Take a listen.
"My name is Rob Biddulph. I am a children's author and illustrator. So basically I make picture books for children usually aged between three to about eight-year-old. "
The name might fail to ring a bell, but you may recognize some of Biddulph's drawings from Instagram or Twitter. On social media, this writer and illustrator is known as the dad who draws pictures on post-it notes for his daughter&`&s lunchbox every day.
Fun has always been the key element in Rob Biddulph's writings. From his award-winning debut "Blown Away", which tells the story of the adventure of a penguin and its friend; to the second book GRRRRR! which is about a champion bear. Most of his publications are about animals and his third picture book, Odd Dog Out, is no exception.
Just as the title suggests, the story is about dogs. But unlike Goofy or Scooby Doo, the major doggie character is a female sausage dog, who is no doubt a hipster.
"When I was at university, when I was at art college studying graphic design, illustration and that kind of thing, one of my very good friends, his parents back home had a sausage dog. We took sort of pathetic photos with the sausage dog. We used to play silly games at college where we dreamt about different scenarios the sausage dog would be in. At the very last page of that book, there is a picture of lots of different sausage dogs in different outfits. Basically, that comes directly from when we were at the university, we used to do a little drawings to make up stories about my friend&`&s sausage dog. So I always have this picture in my head about all these sauages dogs. You know, one of them plays guitar and one of them dresses up like a hot dog, or like a cowboy. That's been in my head for twenty years. So when I decided I wanted to write somebody who doesn't fit in with anybody else, I thought: &`&You know what it is? It's gonna be that sausage dog. That's what I need to write about.&`& "
In the world of Odd Dog Out, all the other dogs look almost identical. They wear suits and ties and are all quite business like, except for one. Wrapped in a rainbow-colored scarf and wearing a knitted hat with a pompom on the top, she is totally different.
"She tries to fit it but she couldn't fit in. So she leaves the place she lives all her life and is going to find somewhere maybe she can fit in. And she finds out maybe it&`&s good to be different. "
Ok, let&`&s not spoil too much of the book. Just like Biddulph's previous works, Odd Dog Out is brightly-colored, cheerful, and full of sing-song rhythms. Though the plot is simple, there is something powerful and important that the author wants to deliver.
"In all of my stories, I try to have a positive message which is kind of reinforcing the thing I believe it's important for everybody in their lives. I have got three daughters. When my eldest daughter was slightly younger, she was having a few issues with her friendship group at school. You know, it's all to do with not wearing the right clothes or having the right pencil case at school. Whatever it was, it made she felt she didn't fit in. I would say to her: "Look, you don't need to try to fit in like anyone else. To be you is the most important thing in the world."That's why I wanted to write this book. That&`&s where it came from in the first place. I do think it's important to engage with young children by drawing the pictures with bright colours and nice, funny rhyming stories, and cute animals. Underneath of these all, I think there should be a message for children as a life lesson for them."
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End anchor:
That was British children&`&s book author and illustrator Rob Biddulph introducing us to his book, Odd Dog Out, which explores the power of being yourself and blazing your own trail.
On that note, it&`&s time to wrap up today&`&s program. Don&`&t forget that there are always more interesting happenings in the literary world and that we will keep you posted. To learn more about us, you can follow our Facebook account: China Plus or download our podcast from iTunes.
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