Having worked as an illustrator all his life, British artist Charlie Mackesy published his first picture book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse at the age of 57. Upon release, the book has spent over 100 weeks on The Sunday Times Bestsellers List Top 10 and sold 4.5 million copies worldwide.
As the book title suggests, it is a story about a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse. The book doesn’t have a clear storyline or a traditional story arc. What it has is a boy asking his animal friends questions. The conversations are written in plain language, but each sentence can be understood as a wise and inspirational quote.
The four characters that Mackesy created embody different aspects of the author’s own character, but readers can also see themselves in the characters. At different times in our lives, we could be the scared little boy, the candid mole, the philosophical old horse or the fox who has been hurt and has withdrawn from life.
Photo: screen grab from Charlie Mackesy’s Facebook page 照片：麥克斯的臉書
To face an intimidating and beautiful world, we need to find the courage to face our frailties and the power to be kind to ourselves. The traditional Chinese character edition of the book was released on Jan. 26.
(Translated by Rita Wang)
英國畫家查理麥克斯畫了一輩子插畫，五十七歲出版第一本繪本《男孩、鼴鼠、狐狸與馬》，上市後即登上《週日泰晤士報》暢銷榜前十名超過一百週，全球狂銷四百五十萬冊。
如同書名所示，《男孩、鼴鼠、狐狸與馬》講的是一個男孩和一隻鼴鼠、一隻狐狸、一匹馬的故事。然而故事本身沒有明確的劇情主線，沒有起承轉合，只有男孩不斷提問，與動物朋友對話，問與答都是簡單的白話文，卻金句連發。
麥克斯創造的四個角色都是他自己的化身，也是我們每一個人的化身。我們有時是怯弱的孩子，有時是坦率自在的鼴鼠，有時是充滿哲思的老馬，有時是受了傷害只想躲起來的狐狸。
面對有點可怕但也很美麗的世界，我們必須找到面對脆弱的勇氣，找到善待自己的力量。此書繁體中文版已於今年一月二十六日暖新上市！
(中央社)
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