年《紐約時報》最佳兒童繪本
Every year since 1952, the Book Review has convened an independent panel of judges to select the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books. Judged purely on artistic merit, it’s the only annual award of its kind.
自1952年以來，《紐約時報》書評版每年都會組建一個獨立評審小組，挑選出時報最佳兒童繪本。它以藝術價值爲唯一標準，也是同類作品的唯一年度獎。
The 2015 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books are, in alphabetical order:
2015年《紐約時報》最佳兒童繪本書單如下，按字母順序排列：
Big Bear Little Chair
《大熊小椅子》(Big Bear Little Chair)
Written and illustrated by Lizi Boyd
故事、繪圖：利茲·博伊德(Lizi Boyd)
This ingenious take on the “opposites” book shows the youngest children that big, little and tiny are all in how you look at things. Using just black, white and a velvety gray, with a bit of red, Boyd’s delightful cut paper compositions juxtapose the large and the small in unexpected ways: a “big meadow” is big because it’s full of small flowers; a “big seal” towers over a “tiny castle” that’s made of sand.
該書巧妙地通過“對立”，向低齡兒童展示了“大、小和微小”的區別在於看待事物的方式。博伊德僅僅使用黑、白、柔和的灰，以及一點點紅色，搭配賞心悅目的剪紙圖案，以出人意料的方式並列呈現了大小事物：一片“大草地”很大，因爲草地上滿是小花朵；在用沙子建造的“微小城堡”前，高聳着一隻“大海豹”。
32 pp. Chronicle Books. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 5)
共32頁。編年史出版社(Chronicle Books)。16.99美元。（繪本，適合3至5歲）
A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat
《精緻甜品：四個世紀，四個家庭，一種美味》(A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat)
By Emily Jenkins. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall.
故事：艾米莉·詹金斯(Emily Jenkins)。繪圖：蘇菲·布萊科爾(Sophie Blackall)。
Four vignettes, set in England, South Carolina, Boston and San Diego, show how the creamy dessert called blackberry fool has been made and enjoyed over the centuries. Our reviewer, John Lithgow, called out the book’s “abundant charms.” Blackall’s warm, finely detailed illustrations — done in ink, watercolor and blackberry juice — capture the sweep of history and the constancy of family love.
書中描繪了四個小片段，分別發生在英格蘭、南卡羅來納州、波士頓和聖迭戈，這些片段講述了數百年來，人們製作和品嚐一種名爲“黑莓傻瓜”(blackberry fool)的奶油甜點的歷史。評審員約翰·利思戈(John Lithgow)稱該書“魅力十足”。布萊科爾用墨水、水彩和黑莓汁繪製了溫暖而精細的插畫，展現了歷史的跨越和親情的延綿。
32 pp. Schwartz & Wade Books. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)
共32頁。施瓦茨與韋德出版社(Schwartz & Wade Books)。17.99美元。（繪本，適合4至8歲）
Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras
《滑稽的骨頭：波薩達和他的亡靈節骷髏》(Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras)
By Duncan Tonatiuh
故事：鄧肯·託納蒂烏(Duncan Tonatiuh)
This biography of the Mexican artist, who popularized calaveras both as a form of political protest and a popular entertainment, integrates Posada’s own prints with Tonatiuh’s winsome, cleverly layered compositions. “Befitting its subject, the book communicates through its visual aesthetic,” Maria Russo wrote. “Tonatiuh’s eye-catching earth-toned digital collages, with occasional blasts of dusky purple or blue, feature people who look like the swoopy, postmodern descendants of Mexican folk figures.”
本書是墨西哥藝術家波薩達的傳記。波薩達普及了骷髏藝術(calaveras)，使其既成爲政治抗議的一種形式，又成爲一種大衆娛樂的方式。書中將波薩達的作品和託納蒂烏可愛、巧妙的分層圖案融合在一起。“這本書通過視覺美感來表達，與它的主題非常契合，”瑪麗亞·羅素(Maria Russo)寫道。“託納蒂烏用引人注目的土地色調的數字拼貼，搭配少量暗紫色或藍色，讓人物看起來像是墨西哥傳說人物的後現代後裔，有平滑的線條。”
40 pp. Abrams. $18.95. (Picture book; ages 6 to 10)
共40頁，艾布拉姆斯出版社(Abrams)。18.95美元。（繪本，適合6至10歲）
Leo: A Ghost Story
《雷歐：幽靈的故事》(Leo: A Ghost Story)
By Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Christian Robinson.
故事：麥克·巴內特(Mac Barnett)。繪圖：克里斯蒂安·羅賓遜(Christian Robinson)
Leo, a little ghost drawn touchingly by Robinson as an improbably sweet and hopeful-looking crayoned outline, feels unwanted in the house he is haunting. So he moves to the city, where he befriends a girl who thinks he’s strictly imaginary. After Leo thwarts a robbery, his real — that is, ghostly — status is affirmed. Our reviewer, Marjorie Ingall, praised Robinson’s “exciting” art. “I love the palette of ‘Leo,’” she wrote. “Black, white, gray and various shades of moody blue, in a mix of acrylic paint and chunky paper collage.”
雷歐是一個小幽靈。羅賓遜用動人的筆觸，將他繪製成一個極爲可愛、看起來充滿希望的蠟筆輪廓。雷歐覺得，在他遊蕩的房子裏，大家都不喜歡他。於是他搬到城市，和一個女孩交上朋友，女孩以爲雷歐只是自己的想象。雷歐阻撓了一次搶劫，他作爲幽靈的真實性得到了確定。評審員瑪喬麗·因加爾(Marjorie Ingall)稱讚，羅賓遜的繪畫很“精彩”。她寫道：“我喜歡《雷歐》的配色，白、灰和各種色調的藍黑色，以及丙烯酸顏料和厚實紙張拼貼的組合。”
52 pp. Chronicle Books. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 5)
共52頁。編年史出版社。16.99美元。（繪本，適合3至5歲）
Madame Eiffel: The Love Story of the Eiffel Tower
《埃菲爾夫人：埃菲爾鐵塔的愛情故事》(Madame Eiffel: The Love Story of the Eiffel Tower)
By Alice Brière-Haquet. Illustrated by Csil.
故事：愛麗絲·布希耶-阿各特(Alice Brière-Haquet)。繪圖：塞希爾(Csil)
In this imaginative telling of the story behind the Eiffel Tower, the engineer Gustave Eiffel is inspired by his love for his ailing wife, Cathy. With a strict palette of black and white with dabs of light rosy red, Csil’s intricate, lacy pen-and-ink illustrations convey Eiffel’s keen attention to detail, along with the allure of Paris and the high-flying ambition of his tower. The effect is romantic and utterly charming, inviting you to look and look at the pages.
本書講述了作者想象的艾菲爾鐵塔背後的故事：工程師居斯塔夫·埃菲爾(Gustave Eiffel)對病妻凱西(Cathy)的愛激發了他的靈感。塞希爾用嚴格的黑白配色，加上少許淺玫瑰紅，勾畫出錯綜複雜的繁複筆墨插圖，展示了埃菲爾對細節的敏銳，再加上巴黎的魅力以及鐵塔承載的雄心壯志，整體效果浪漫迷人，引人入勝。
24 pp. Little Gestalten. $19.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)
共24頁，Little Gestalten出版社。19.95美元（繪本，適合4至8歲）
The Only Child
《獨生小孩》(The Only Child)
Written and illustrated by Guojing
故事、繪圖：郭景
A small child is left alone all day to fend for herself. She dozes off on a city bus and wakes in an unknown forest, a silvery fantasyland up in the clouds where she bonds with a flying deer, enormous whales and a seal pup. Our reviewer, Samantha Hunt, was enchanted by this “dreamy, wordless debut,” lovingly illustrated with smoky, mystical-looking pencil drawings. “The dark current flowing underneath such lush imagery,” Hunt wrote, “is the loneliness of childhood under China’s one-child policy.”
一個小姑娘一整天都要自己照顧自己。她在城市裏的公交車上睡着了，醒來時來到了一片未知的森林裏。那是雲朵上面的一個銀色夢境。在那裏，她和會飛的鹿、大鯨魚和一隻小海豹建立起了感情。這本“夢幻題材的無字處女作”讓評審員薩曼莎·亨特(Samantha Hunt)沉醉在其中。書中的插圖都是煙霧朦朧、看上去有些神祕的鉛筆畫。“美麗的圖畫背後涌動的暗流，”亨特說，“是中國一胎政策下童年的孤獨。”
98 pp. Schwartz & Wade. $19.99. (Picture book; ages 5 to 9)
共98頁。施瓦茨與韋德出版社。19.99美元。（繪本，適合5至9歲）
The Skunk
《臭鼬》(The Skunk)
By Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Patrick McDonnell.
故事：馬克·巴尼特(Mac Barnett)繪圖：帕特里克·麥當奈爾(Patrick McDonnell)
32 pp. Roaring Brook Press. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)
共32頁，咆哮溪出版社(Roaring Brook Press)。17.99美元。（繪本，適合4至8歲）
Sidewalk Flowers
《路邊的鮮花》(Sidewalk Flowers)
By JonArno Lawson. Illustrated by Sydney Smith.
故事：瓊阿諾·勞森(JonArno Lawson) 繪圖：西德尼·史密斯(Sydney Smith)
“Something to treasure,” our reviewer, Carmela Ciuraru, called this dazzlingwordless book. As a girl and her father walk home through city streets, she notices flowers sprouting in unexpected places. She picks them, accumulating a bouquet that she distributes to a dog, a dead bird, a homeless man and finally, back home, her sleeping toddler sibling. In Smith’s elegant and moving drawings, as Ciuraru wrote, “the only pop of color on the first page is the girl’s bright red hoodie, redolent of Peter’s snowsuit in Ezra Jack Keats’s ‘The Snowy Day.’ More color suffuses these pages as the pair gets closer to home.”
評審員卡爾梅拉·丘拉魯(Carmela Ciuraru)對這本令人驚歎的繪本的評價是“值得珍藏”。一個小女孩和父親穿過城市的街道步行回家。她發現，一些意想不到的地方長出了鮮花。她把獻花采來做成花束，分給了一條狗、一隻死鳥、一個流浪漢和家裏已經睡着了的弟弟。正如丘拉魯所寫的那樣，史密斯的插圖簡潔感人，“第一頁上唯一的色彩是小女孩鮮紅的連帽衫，讓人想起了埃茲拉·傑克·濟慈(Ezra Jack Keats)《雪天》(The Snowy Day)裏彼得穿的風雪服。隨着兩人離家越來越近，書頁上的顏色越來越豐富。”
26 pp. Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 3 to 8)
共26頁。格朗伍德/阿南西出版公司(Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press)。16.95美元。（繪本，適合3至8歲）
The Tiger Who Would Be King
《想當國王的老虎》(The Tiger Who Would Be King)
By James Thurber. Illustrated by JooHee Yoon.
故事：詹姆斯·瑟伯(James Thurber) 繪圖：尹珠熙（JooHee Yoon，音）
Thurber’s 1956 comic fable about a power-mad tiger who starts a deadly war is vibrantly illustrated by Yoon in a dense, blocky print style, all in an electric red, a cool blue-green, black and white. Each page teems with evocative images of animal life. The effect is ferocious and ravishing, capturing the beastliness of war along with emotions that include pride, boredom, shock and sorrow.
本書是瑟伯1956年推出的一個漫畫寓言故事，講的是一隻癡迷於權力的老虎發起一場大戰的故事。尹珠熙的插圖色彩鮮豔，全都是鮮亮的紅色、冷靜的藍綠色、黑色和白色，印刷風格的色塊密集地擠在一起。每一頁都滿是令人思緒飛揚的動物生活場景。畫面衝擊感強烈，令人陶醉，既刻畫出了戰爭的殘暴，又表現出了驕傲、厭倦、震驚和悲傷等情感。
40 pp. Enchanted Lion Books. $18.95. (All ages)
共40頁。醉獅圖書公司(Enchanted Lion Books)。18.95美元。（適合所有年齡）
Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower
《特里基·維克：一個賣埃菲爾鐵塔的人的真實故事》(Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower)
By Greg Pizzoli
故事：格雷格·皮佐利(Greg Pizzoli)
This biography of the legendary con man who once managed to sell the Eiffel Tower bursts with cheeky wit and verve. We follow Tricky Vic, as he was known, from his birth as Robert Miller in what is now the Czech Republic to his death in a federal prison in Missouri. In one of many comic touches, a thumbprint stands in for Tricky Vic’s head. “Pizzoli’s jocular, simple but graphically sophisticated collage illustrations draw readers even further into a story it would be hard to be bored by,” Maria Russo wrote.
本書是一本傳記，主人公是一個傳奇騙子，曾經成功地賣掉了埃菲爾鐵塔。書中充滿了詼諧的玩笑，筆觸充滿活力，介紹了主人公從出生到離世的一生。他出生時叫羅伯特·米勒(Robert Miller)，後被世人稱作特里基·維克。他生於現在的捷克，在密蘇里州的一座聯邦監獄走到了生命的盡頭。書中有濃厚的漫畫氣息，其中一處是用指紋代表特里基·維克的腦袋。“這是一個很難讓人感到厭煩的故事，皮佐利風趣、簡單卻又精美生動的拼貼插圖吸引着讀者一步步深入，”瑪利亞·拉索(Maria Russo)寫道。
39 pp. Viking. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 7 to 10)
共39頁。維京出版公司(Viking)。17.99美元。（繪本，適合7至10歲）
