The International Youth Library, Munich has just presented its annual White Ravens catalogue. This is a selection by the children’s literature experts at the IYL, and their supporters, of especially noteworthy books from the large number of review and donation copies the library receives in the course of the year. The team focuses on titles that might be of interest to an international audience because of their literary and pictorial quality and/or the topics they address.
For details of previous Chinese-language White Ravens, see our posts no. 111 (White Ravens 1984-2020), no. 133 (2021), no. 157 (2022), no. 162 (2023), no. 167 (2024), and no. 182 (2025).
Scroll down for this year’s Chinese-language White Ravens.
The 2026 White Ravens Catalogue (free download here)
The 2026 White Ravens catalogue features 216 notable new children’s and young adult books from 62 countries and in 46 languages. There are 7 Chinese-language books and 1 Hokkien-language book. in the 2026 White Ravens catalogue (scroll down for details).
Rou gu cha xiang 肉骨茶香 (The fragrance of Bak Kut Teh), by Gasing Buku (Qi dian wen hua) (text), ZHENG Weizhen (illus.). Shah Alam, Selangor: Persatuan Kebajikan Tangan Sejati (Little Hands Action Charity Foundation), 2025. 28 pages. Age: 3+. ISBN 978-629-99685-6-6 // Keywords: Food | Bak Kut Teh | Worker | Coolie | History | Picture book
Summary: In her debut, ZHENG Weizhen introduces Bak Kut Teh, a popular dish in the city of Klang, Selangor, by following a little girl and her father to a restaurant. Bak Kut Teh translates from Hokkien as »meat bone tea«. It consists of pork ribs slow cooked in a rich broth made with spices and Chinese medicinal herbs. While the girl enjoys mouthwatering ingredients like pork feet and trotters, her dad explains the dish’s history. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, thousands of Chinese immigrated to work as “coolies” at the Klang docks or in Malaya’s tin mines and plantations. A local food stall owner, Lee Boon Teh, added Chinese medicinal herbs and seasonings into his soup for them. Legend has it that the locals named the dish after him. While Dad’s story ends, the girl finishes her meal with a full burp. They depart with takeaways, belly full, heart warm. Crucial to the ethnic identity of the Chinese community in an Islamic country, Bak Kut Teh was recognized as a Malaysian national heritage dish in 2024. [LO]
Wan wu sheng zhang 万物生长 (All things grow), by LIU Haiqi (text), ZOU Xiaoping (illus.). Tianjin: Xinlei chubanshe (New Buds Publishing House), 2025. 191 pages. Age: 10+.
ISBN 978-7-5307-7975-0 // Keywords: Childhood | Moral education | Short story
Summary: This short story collection for children draws its title from a popular 1960s »red song« (revolutionary song), evoking the writer’s childhood and the spirit of childhood today. With his innovative narratives, LIU Haiqi deviates from the typical style and content of Chinese children’s fiction and its notions of childhood. Realistic images of children collide with contradictory moral concepts, revealing the vibrancy of a “red” generation’s childhood, and proving that, in any era, while the lives of children can be disciplined by mainstream ideologies, their innate free spirit still prevails. With rare precision and density, this collection reworks the era’s formal literary language and revives forgotten historical experiences. LIU Haiqi is a renowned publisher, former CBBY Deputy Chairman, and outstanding children’s author. His books include You gezi de xiatian and Wu wei xiao shu li xian ji. He won the National Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature twice and received the 2023 China’s Good Books prize. [FW, ZX]
Xue lu 雪鹿 (Snow deer), by PENG Yi (text), TIAN Yu (illus.). Nanning: Jieli chubanshe (Jieli Publishing House), 2025. 208 pages. (Series: Wu li wa la shu shu gushiji). Age: 10+. ISBN 978-7-5448-9443-2 // Keywords: Deer | Snow | Love | Fantasy fiction | Graphic novel
Summary: A snow deer that has saved a boy and his father is transformed into a little girl who comes knocking on their cabin door. Their bond continues to grow but at the price of the deer becoming invisible. This love story, told in the boy’s voice, is marked by a masterfully paced narration and genuine emotions. The illustrations blend the aesthetics of Chinese ink-painting with expressive, modern graphic-novel techniques. Blacks, whites, and greys create an atmosphere drawing on memory and myth, flowing in harmony with the text. This graphic novel was named a 2025 China’s Good Book and won the Canadian Applied Arts Award. PENG Yi is a celebrated fantasy writer, translator, and scholar. His works include the fantasy novel Yu you ling ca jian er guo and the picture book Xun lu ren de hai zi. He received the China Publishing Government Award. TIAN Yu’s picture books Qiao men xiao xiong and Chang bai sun received the Times Picture Book Award and the Laurel Children’s Book Award. [FW, ZX]
Dujiaoshou xianshen de chuntian 独角兽现身的春天 (The spring when unicorns appear)， by Tongzi (i.e. ZHAO Zhongsheng) (text), JIN Zhaoxin (illus.). Jinan: Ming tian chu ban she (Tomorrow Publishing House), 2025. – 158 pages. (Series: Xin tong shi) Age: 8+. ISBN 978-7-5708-2549-3 // Keywords: Imagination | Language | Play | Poetry
Summary: This collection features nearly eighty children’s poems by Tongzi. They are marked by wild innocence, boundless imagination, playful surprises, and profound philosophical undercurrents. Composed in free form and flowing in rhythm, they delightfully alternate between the quotidian and a world of wonder, suggesting no dissociation between real life and fairy tales, everyday words and poetry. Halfway through the dream / I suddenly forgot who I was… I once threw a lion up into the sky / and it hasn’t come down yet…. Tongzi’s generation of authors has expanded the artistic expression and aesthetic scope of Chinese children’s poetry, while their seemingly aimless whimsy and ostensibly casual free verse also sparked debate. Should poetry for children be like this? Tongzi’s poetry collections include Chizu tiao lai tiao qu (Jumping about barefoot) and Wo zhi dao suo you wen ti de da an le (I know the answers to all the questions), the latter won the National Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature. [FW, ZX]
Aliya zhao baba 啊丽亚找爸爸 (Aliya looks for her Dad), by ZHOU Xiang (text/illus.) Ürümqi: Xin jiang qing shao nian chu ban she (Xinjiang Juvenile Publishing House), 2025. 46 pages. (Series: Beibei xiong tongshuguan) Age: 5+. Age: 7+. ISBN 978-7-5756-HOU0653-0 // Keywords: Xinjiang | Uyghur | Bazaar | Daughter | Aliya | Father
Summary: Aliya, a little Uyghur girl, eagerly follows her father to the grand bazaar to buy sheep. Afterwards, her father leaves to fix his vehicle, telling Aliya to wait. A startled horse and a rainstorm soon plunge the bazaar into chaos, and Aliya gets lost in the clamour and confusion of the vast market. But people notice her in her red dress and come forward to help, calling her father’s name until they find him, thus helping to reunite father and child. Earthy yellows and russet browns in the illustrations evoke a harsh but warm-hearted land where busy folk pause to help a child. ZHOU Xiang is a leading figure in promoting contemporary Chinese picture books. His best-known works include Hehua zhen de zaoshi (The morning market of Lotus Town) and Yiyuan qingcai cheng le jing (A garden of vegetables became alive). In 2023, ZHOU Xiang won Chinese Excellence in Children’s Illustration at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. [FW, ZX]
Tongku Saveq. Taki Ludun tu Vazaz Tiang (Dong gu sha fei. Shan de haizi Di-ang) 東谷沙飛：山的孩子笛昂 (Tiang. Child of the mountain), by Neqou Soqluman 乜寇．索克魯曼 (text) Maoyu (i.e. CHIANG Meng-Yun) (illus.) Taibei: Si ye wen hua (SACCA Publishing Company), 2025. 56 pages. YA. ISBN 978-626-96841-6-8 // Keywords: Taiwan | Mountains | Ecology | Bunun | Picture book
Summary: The story follows young Tiang, who desires to climb Tongku Saveq, the sacred mountain of the Bunun people. Although his father – a high-altitude porter who wants to shield his son from backbreaking labour – is at first reluctant, they embark, together with the grandfather, on a trek that requires courage, responsibility, and physical stamina. Weaving in mythology, ecology, and ancestral wisdom, the narrative follows their ascent to the summit, where Taiwan’s breathtaking beauty unfolds. Illustrator Maoyu’s intuitive approach rejects stereotypical “tribal styles”; using coloured inks to interweave reality and fantasy, she depicts thin air, mist, textures of trees, rocks, mythical creatures and the well-defined calves of the hard-working Bunun. The book reflects the worldview of the Bunun and their desire to reclaim their sacred mountain. Author and illustrator have received numerous national and international awards. This book was awarded the TIBE Grand Prize 2026 for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. [LO]
Ke bu keyi shuo 可不可以说？(Can we say?), by Xi Xi (i.e. Ellen Cheung Yin / Zhang Yan) (text), Liu, Joanne (Liao Beien) (illus.) Taipei: Xiwang zhizao youxian gongsi (Hopology
Publishing), 2025. 42 pages. (Series: Xi Xi shiji huiben xilie; 1) Age: 3+. ISBN 978-626-98257-6-9 // Keywords: Language | Norm | Rebellion | Poetry | Picture book
Summary: Ke bu keyi shuo pairs the literary imagination of the iconic late Hong Kong writer and poet Xi Xi (1937–2022) with the bold, whimsical visual storytelling of award-winning Hong Kong illustrator Joanne LIU. This celebrated poem has been adapted into a vibrant visual narrative where text and imagery engage in an entertaining exploration of language through a deceptively simple and rebellious poetic device: the deliberately incorrect assignment of measure words. By rearranging conventional phrases to name the world in unexpected ways, the poem subverts rigid grammatical norms and accustomed perspectives alike: “Can we say: A gourd of universe? A bloom of umbrellas? A bottle of Milky Way? A tail of an emperor?” Beneath this playful surface lies a more subversive intent to upend linguistic norms and question societal rules and world views. Joanne LIU’s imaginative illustrations bring this rebellion to life, transforming absurdity into acts of resistance against censorship, highlighting creative freedom and challenging hierarchies. [LO]
Na si leh sàng phue 若是咧送批 (If you were delivering letters), by Corn Chen (Yumi Chen, i.e. Chen Minyu) (text/illus.). Taibei: Yu shan she, Xing yue shu fang (Yushan Publishing, Star Moon Study), 2025. 90 pages. Age: 6+. ISBN 978-986-294-383-0 // Text in Hokkien (Taiwan Minnan) and Chinese. Keywords: Taiwan | History 1945-1992 | Political persecution | Prisoner | Letter | Poetry | Bilingual book | Leporello
Summary: This book by award-winning illustrator Corn Chen focuses on the recovery of state-censored farewell letters written by political prisoners facing execution during Taiwan’s authoritarian “White Terror” era. Faced with the question, “If you were delivering letters, what kind would you want to deliver?”, a postman vows to take care of these forgotten messages. He pedals across a magical landscape of old postal envelopes, until after sixty winters the letters finally become accessible and can be delivered to their rightful recipients. During his journey, he witnesses how these letters originate from “pitch-black fenced compounds”. letters have become undeliverable. The volume also includes letters and biographical accounts of five dissidents as well as essays on the White Terror period, encouraging readers to reflect on historical trauma and its relationship to present-day freedom. [LO]
