Writers pen tales for young fans

After more than six decades penning beautiful tales for young readers, Jin Bo, 85, is still going strong with his captivating and entertaining stories. Some of his works have been selected as student textbooks.

Woodee's Adventure is one of his creations. First published in 2007, the book is composed of a "crown of sonnets" as he calls it, and was hailed by critics as "an oath to love" featuring a little foot's adventure, entirely on its own, not attached to any body.

China Translation and Publishing House has recently released a Chinese-English bilingual version of the book, among an eight-book series entitled Great Stories for Children.

All the translators for the series in English are native speakers from Britain, the United States and Canada. And the series is also being translated into Dutch and Arabic.

Jin Bo is actually the pen name of Wang Jinbo. He recognizes that it's not easy to translate the tales into foreign versions because of the 14 consecutive chapters of sonnets.

"The rhythm and inner structure add to the difficulties. My daughter, a bilingual professional, has tried, but failed," he says.

But translator Brian Willson Bies, from the US, who got his master's degree in Chinese modern and contemporary literature from Nanjing Normal University, has fulfilled Jin Bo's expectations.