Ophelia's Shadow Theatre

Author: Michael Ende (Germany) He Xiliman He Shan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-05-01
Features:
——This is a wonderful book that can be read and cherished by people from three to one hundred and three.
——This is a book that is perfect for reading alone and also perfect for reading with parents.
——This is a book that allows you to immerse yourself in either the text or the illustrations alone.
——This is a book that is hard to finish in one sitting and one that you wouldn’t want to finish in one sitting.
——This is a book that can only be understood by those with a pure heart, and after reading it, you will possess an even purer heart. A beautiful and unforgettable fantasy—this is the classic picture book series by fantasy literature master Michael Ende that 21st Century Publishing House is about to launch. It brings you unforgettable beauty and fantasy.
The beauty of the work is self-evident. It doesn’t matter if you fully understand the implied meaning; its simple and transparent fantasy world is enchantingly fairy-tale-like. The depth of the work is also self-evident. Beneath the surface of the seemingly simple text lies a wealth of life philosophies and life experiences. The work is full of passion, filled with praise and reverence for ordinary people and their ordinary lives. Therefore, it resonates most with ordinary people, and reading it at any stage of life will bring different insights.
The picture book series consists of 7 volumes, including The Stubborn Turtle, The Soccer Match Between a Fly and an Elephant, The Legend of the Full Moon Night, The Nightmare Eater, The Bare-Assed Rhino, Ophelia’s Shadow Theater, and TheTeddy Bear, all of which are the author’s most influential classic short stories. The illustrations in each volume are created by renowned artists, with distinct styles and features, complementing the exquisite text perfectly. The Stubborn Turtle even comes with a musical composition—The Turtle March, composed by a famous musician who won the Strauss Prize, with each half note as one beat and four beats per measure—that vividly portrays the slow pace and stubborn personality of the main character, Toto, in a fun and lifelike way.
Many of the works in the picture book series have been widely translated into Chinese and have been reprinted in various publications or included in textbooks. They can be easily found online. The most widely circulated digest magazine, Reader, reprinted the entire Ophelia’s Shadow Theater as the lead article in its 22nd issue of 2004. Many years ago, several volumes of this picture book series were published by 21st Century Publishing House as children’s books. Their profound thoughts, engaging text, and exquisite illustrations attracted a large number of adult readers, becoming a favorite among book collectors.
This time, the publisher has expanded the collection with more artistic and emotionally moving illustrations and is releasing it again. It has been carefully designed and crafted to be even more suitable for preservation and for readers of all ages. Renowned children’s literature writer Professor Mei Zihan has meticulously crafted introductory texts for each volume.
Michael Ende (MICHAELENDE) was born in Garmsch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in 1929. He is recognized by the German literary criticism as a great writer who “lost fantasy and dreams for children and adults in a cold, soulless world.” Many of his works have become world-renowned classics. He was a prolific and versatile writer, producing not only children’s literature but also numerous adult works. His total print run exceeds 30 million copies, translated into over 40 languages, and is popular worldwide. This great master of fantasy literature passed away in Stuttgart in 1995. Today, the “Michael Ende Memorial” is located at the International Youth Library in Munich, and readers around the world will never forget this immortal pioneer of the soul and tireless dream seeker.