★ By a Hans Christian Andersen Laureate: Written by Cao Wenxuan, the first Chinese author to win this prestigious award in 2016. His works have been translated into over 40 languages and published in more than 70 countries.
★ Proven Market Success: The series has sold over 1.5 million copies! Focusing on themes of love, courage, dignity, and growth, it is deeply humane and uniquely poetic. As the HCAA jury praised, he writes with "a poetic, water-like touch, capturing real and sorrowful moments of life."

"Every sorrowful soul is healed by love, and every painful metamorphosis is accompanied by tenderness."
★ The latest work following Draft Through the Alley. Rights already sold: Arabic and English (UK).
★ A profound work that respects children's inner thoughts and focuses on their path of self-growth and transformation. Through a "slightly mysterious story," it explores the pain of "parting and loss" in childhood, as well as the child's resilience and self-actualization.

Series Overview (8 Volumes)
Draft Through the Alley, Bat Fragrance, The Firefly King, Grass Shoe Bay, In Search of a Bird, A City Without Streets, Su Wu Tends Sheep, Who Took My Grandpa Away

"Of everything that happened in the night, he had no memory at all. It didn't seem like a dream—for when one wakes from a dream, one usually remembers something, at least remembering that one has dreamed?"

One evening, a boy named Cun Ge'er pushed open his door and walked into the night. He passed through the woods, crossed the ridges, and climbed onto a high haystack, gazing blankly at the starry sky, surrounded by a few gray, erratic bats. No matter how hard his father called his name, he did not respond; even when his friends blocked his path, he did not stop.
Cun Ge'er was sleepwalking. It was as if every night he would enter a remarkably sweet dream, so sweet that he couldn't bear to open his eyes.
However, the dark night would eventually be illuminated by the sun, and the sorrow in his heart would be dispelled by hope. The dreaming child would finally open his eyes—to see the azure sky, the surging rivers, and the blue rosemary fields emitting a rich, fragrant aroma.

Cao Wenxuan
Member of the Council of the China Writers Association; Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Peking University.
Winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award (April 2016) and the Outstanding Chinese Influencing the World Award (January 2017).
Recipient of over 50 major literary awards, including the National Book Award, the Chinese Government Award, the National Outstanding Children's Literature Award, and the Gold Award of the Soong Ching-ling Children's Literature Award.
His works have been translated into English, French, German, Russian, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Serbian, Arabic, Persian, and more.

Notable Novels: Straw House, Root Bird, Ximi, Bronze and Sunflower, Fire Mark, as well as the King's Book series, My Son Pika series, and Ding Ding Dang Dang series.
Selected Literary Collections: The Melancholy Pastoral, The Red Gourd, Following Eternity, The Sweet Orange Tree, etc.
Academic Works: A Study of Literary Phenomena in China in the 1980s, The Second World: A Philosophical Interpretation of Literature and Art, A Study of Literary Phenomena in China at the End of the 20th Century, The Door of Fiction, etc.

1 A Silent Night
2 Whereabouts Unknown
3 Sitting Atop the Tall Windmill
4 Rosemary
5 Hearing a Voice from the Edge of the Sky
6 Calling Back the Soul
7 The Black Sprite
8 The Bat Dance
9 The Fierce Battle on the Water
10 Falling into the Water
11 From Then On, the Dream Stayed at Home
12 A Sleepless Night
Afterword