「让爱发电计划·提案」儿童绘本 “圣诞老人的秘密”

这计划其实我在去年就已经开始陆续实行，如果之前看过2020的第一个闭门羹的朋友们应该多少有印象。看Matter发布“让爱发电”这个好康计划时，有一种天无绝人之路的感觉。但是，在阅读大家的提案之后也让我也有过不想要沾一脚的感觉，毕竟好的提案也太多了，真心期待大家的作品。

好吧，先和大家聊聊我的进度。至今我一共大概寄了30多家的出版社，都石沉大海。随后也和其他的绘本作者交换草稿，前后后也改了30几次的原稿。除了语法和用词之外，主要是因为大家都建议最好控制在500个英文字之内。一开始我不是很愿意大量删减故事，但是看了很多资料后还是忍痛砍字数，不过依然挤不进500。这些过程虽然看起来很琐碎又烦人，但是我是我很是享受。每一次的尝试都有很多学到很多新知识，就算我那天真的放弃者故事，也绝对是值得的。

好吧，二话不说先让大家看看内容，每2页就有横线分割，一共26页，加上封面等刚好可以组成一般的32页绘本。

The Secret of the Tooth Fairyland

Age group ：4-8 years old
Wordcount : 681 words

“Oh, how terrible- What I feared has happened! Global warming has melted our homes. The North Pole is now flooded and most of our belongings are destroyed. Quick, save whatever you can and stuff it into my big, waterproof bag.”

(illustration note : Everyone floating above Santa’s bag)

—————

“Christmas is just around the corner, and there’s much work to be done.”

“This will be a terrible Christmas. We have nowhere to go!”

“Let’s not give up easily! We can't disappoint the kids” (said Santa).

Suddenly a sweet, tiny voice appeared. "Why don't you guys come to stay with us?”

—————

“Who are you little one?”

“I’m Toothy Lilly from Tooth Fairyland. Our godmother fairy heard about your terrible situation and sent me to invite all of you to migrate to our humble home,” Every time she spoke, some glitter dust would sprinkle off her wings. 

——————

(illustration note: As Santa and the rest stepped foot into the Tooth Fairyland, they immediately froze. Their eyes opened wide and their jaws fell. The clouds were colorful  and the footpath was shiny. Glittery dust lightly drizzled all over the place.）

Indeed, Tooth Fairyland was a wonderful place. Everyone was so cheerful, and there was no sadness and no tears.

Whenever a tooth was lost, the bells rang in a unique way allowing the fairies to be able to locate that particular child. It was melodious all day as there was always someone was losing a tooth somewhere in the world.

—————

Everyone finally settled down in a fairy workshop and started preparing the Christmas presents on the wish list. But Santa's eyebrows suddenly frowned in an “Oh, NO!” position. 

“What’s wrong Santa?”

“Did you forget the WI-FI password?”

“Did you peed in your pants?”

"Do you miss North Pole that much?"

"We miss our home in the North Pole, too”, said the rest of the elves.

“I hope humans take better care of the earth, so that no other animals become homeless like us” (Illustration note : Dialog bubble from one elf stroking a reindeer.)

—————

Santa broke into tears and stuttered, "Th-the North Pole has me-melted, we have no more snow for Christmas!”

Everyone, including the tooth fairies, was soon panicking and thinking of a way to solve this unthought of problem…. Suddenly, Toothy Lilly had an idea! 

—————

“Everyone, don’t give up. Perhaps, we can turn the teeth we have been collecting into snow,”

"Sounds like an idea! But how?”

“To solve a big problem, we need to divide it into smaller problems, then solve them one by one,” (Toothy Lilly said). 

——————

“Snow is white. To start, we will need only pearly, white teeth. ”

After sorting through their collection, they only had five baskets full. The rest of the teeth had shades of yellow or black.

“We need more white teeth!” (Illustration note: a tooth fairy exclaimed.)

—————

"I can write to the children like how they ask for their Christmas presents,”

 “Dear Young Friends,

This is Santa, and I need to ask you for a favor. Please join me on an important secret mission to save Christmas by keeping your teeth as white as possible. Trust me, it’s important.

Tips:

1)    Don’t go to bed without brushing.

2)    Don’t eat anything after you brush your teeth at night, otherwise, brush again.

3)    Don’t use a milk bottle if you are more than three years old. 

I really appreciate your help, in return, I will keep your name off the naughty list.

                                                                                                XOXO

Santa from Tooth Fairyland

—————

All the children were excited to help Santa out. Soon, the tooth fairies had collected enough pearly, white teeth.

“Now, it’s time to solve the next problem, which is to clean them.” All the teeth were put in a sterilizing pot and boiled for three days and three nights.

—————

 “Okay, let’s crush the teeth into smaller pieces!”

(Illustration note: Everyone joined in to help with the task. The tooth fairies used their magic wands to cool the teeth, and the elves used their hammers to break the teeth. The reindeers put on their stomper boots and started to crush the teeth into powder. ) 

—————

On Christmas Eve, the snow was put into a large bag and tied behind Santa’s carriage. Toothy Lilly made two holes so that as Santa rode, the snow would sprinkle out along the way. 

“Wait!!! We have another really huge problem !” screamed Santa.

“WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?” (Illustation note: everyone else exclaimed in disbelief)

—————

“The snow is made out of teeth. It won’t melt! What will people do with it after winter?”

Toothy Lilly responded with a calm smile, “Don’t you worry, Santa. We put little spell on the “snow”. It will melt as the winter ends. No one will ever notice the difference.”

“HOHOHO….Come on reindeers, let’s make this the best Christmas ever!” (The End)

虽然知道机会渺茫，但一直想要尝试传统型出版社是因为贪方便。绘本的精髓其实就是在于插图，但这也是我最大的瓶颈，本姑娘画功属于负数。而出版社一般都会有自家雇佣的插画师就解决了这烦恼。在看了很多资料才知道，原来最不欢迎的题材就是 Santa和Toothfairy，竟然双双中标。。。正当我考虑是否要放弃，或是选择其他的形式出版的时候，就转角遇见让爱发电计划。

其实这计划到最后有没有被选中都没关系，这篇主要就是希望大家给予一些看法和意见。近来在Matters上也有不少画画高手如果用兴趣合作的也可以聊聊，万一我那么幸运获奖，除了奖金全数归于画者，会按要求补上作画价格的差数。要是成功自行出版的话，也以画者60%版权费。欢迎大家email我：tangyuanyuan101@gamil.com

@Matty交代，文末加上一句請讀者給予支持的個性化語：

赞美童真的人都是大人，一路历经沧桑，蓦然回首才发现童真已经遥不可及。