【龙腾网】十一本最伟大的英文童书你读过几本?
正文翻译
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻译：清风徐徐 转载请注明出处
The 11 greatest children’s books
11本最伟大的儿童图书
How to define a classic for kids
如何定义儿童文学经典
What are the greatest children’s books ever? In search of a collective critical assessment, BBC Culture’s Jane Ciabattari polled dozens of critics around the world, including NPR’s Maureen Corrigan; Nicolette Jones, children’s books editor of the Sunday Times; Nicole Lamy of the Boston Globe; Time magazine's books editor Lev Grossman; Daniel Hahn, author of the new Oxford Companion to Children's Literature; and Beirut-based critic Rayyan Al-Shawaf. We asked each to name the best children’s books (for ages 10 and under) ever published in English. The critics named 151. Some of the choices may surprise you. A few books you might think would be contenders to top the poll didn’t even make the top 20. (For a full list of the runners-up visit our Twitter feed @BBC_Culture.) The titles that follow appeared over and again from the critics we polled and will continue to inspire children for many years to come.
历来最伟大的童书有哪些？为了寻找评论界公认的评定，BBC文化栏目的简·赛亚巴塔里对世界各地数十位评论家进行了一次投票，其中包括美国国家公共电台（NPR）的莫琳·里根；《星期日泰晤士报》儿童图书编辑妮可莱特·琼斯；《波士顿环球时报》的妮可·拉米；《时代杂志》图书编辑列弗·格罗斯曼；新《牛津儿童文学指南》作者丹尼尔·哈恩；赖扬·阿尔-沙瓦夫。我们请他们提名认为以英文出版的最佳儿童图书（专为10岁以下儿童的书）。评论家们提名了151本书。有些选出的书可能会惊着你，而你可能认为得票最高的几本书并未进入前20名。（查看完整决赛书单请看推特@BBC_文化栏目。）下列书目一次次出现在评论家口中，并将在未来许多年里继续启发孩子们。
11. Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie (1935)
十一.《大草原上的小房子》，劳拉英·格尔斯·怀尔德著（1935年）
Wilder’s nine classic frontier novels were inspired by her own 19th Century childhood. She was raised in a pioneer family, and traveled through the Midwest by covered wagon. Wilder writes with authentic detail of a little girl living “in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs" with her parents, two sisters and their dog, Jack. "As far as a man could go to the north in a day, or a week, or a whole month, there was nothing but woods. There were no houses.” Wilder’s accounts have made daily life on the frontier vivid for generations.
怀尔德的九本经典边疆小说灵感来源于自己19世纪的童年。她在一个拓荒者家庭长大，乘着篷车游遍了美国中西部。怀尔德用真实细节写作：一个小女孩和父母、两个姐姐跟狗狗杰克住在“威斯康辛州大森林中”用“原木搭建的”灰色小房子里。“一个人朝北方走上一天、一星期或者一个月也只能看见森林。没有房子。”怀尔德边为几代人生动描述了边疆的日常生活。
10. Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle In Time (1962)
十.《时间的皱纹》，玛德琳·朗格尔著（1962年）
Meg Murry’s father, a time traveling physicist, has disappeared. One night she, her precocious younger brother Charles Wallace and her mother – “a scientist and a beauty as well” – have an unexpected visitor. "Wild nights are my glory," the strange Mrs Whatsit tells them. "I just got blown off course.” She refers to a tesseract, a fifth dimension that allows travel through time and space. With her brother and a high school friend, Calvin, Meg sets out across the universe to find her father. Their confrontation with IT, the disembodied conformist intelligence that casts a shadow over the universe, is a noirish Cold War touch. L’Engle’s Newbery Award-winning book was an early foray into science fiction for younger readers, inspired in part by Einstein’s theory of relativity. Meg was a first in literature: a nerdy girl whose intelligence was matched by her powerful love for her family.
麦格·莫里的爸爸，一位时间旅行物理学家，失踪了。一天夜里麦格早熟的小弟弟查尔斯·华莱士和“即是科学家也是大美人”的妈妈见到了一位意外的访客。这位奇怪的那啥啥夫人告诉他们：“荒野之黑夜乃我荣耀。我刚偏离了航线。”她指的是一个能穿越时空的第五维超立方体。麦格和弟弟还有高中的朋友卡尔文一起穿过宇宙去寻找她爸爸。他们对抗“它”——令宇宙蒙上阴影、没有肉体、墨守成规的智慧生命——的故事带着一丝黑色的冷战格调。朗格尔的纽伯瑞儿童文学奖获奖书籍是早期为年轻读者涉足科幻小说领域的作品，部分灵感来源于爱因斯坦的相对论。麦格第一个在文学上付诸行动：对家人强大的爱意让一个呆呆的女孩儿拥有了与之相称的智慧。
【注】：纽伯瑞儿童文学奖（Newbery Medal），又称纽伯瑞奖。以儿童文学之父纽伯瑞命名。该奖项每年颁发一次，专门奖励上一年度出版的优秀英语儿童文学作品。
9. Ursula K Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)
九.《地海巫师》，厄休拉·K·勒奎恩著（1968年）
8. Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
八.《查理与巧克力工厂》，罗尔德·达尔著（1964年）
The critics’ poll nominated five of Roald Dahl’s children’s books – the most by any author. Poet and book critic Tess Taylor calls his work “rollicking, funny, scary, humane and magical.” New York Times columnist Carmela Ciuraru says, “It seems impossible to choose just one favourite by Dahl, arguably the greatest children's book author of all time, but he is at his most delightful, imaginative and mischievous in this 1964 classic.” Dahl’s most popular among the five nominated is the story of Charlie Bucket, his Grandpa Joe, the Oompa-Loompas and the five golden tickets that take Charlie inside the factory of Willy Wonka, “the most amazing, the most fantastic, the most extraordinary chocolate maker the world has ever seen!” “Something crazy is going to happen now, Charlie thought. But he wasn’t frightened. He wasn’t even nervous. He was just terrifically excited.”
评论家的投票提名了五本罗尔德·达尔的儿童图书——评论者里提及最多的书目。诗歌与书籍评论家苔丝·泰勒称罗尔德的作品“欢闹、滑稽、可怕、充满人情味、不可思议。”《纽约时报》卡梅拉·说，“要从达尔的书里挑一本最喜欢的简直不可能，他可以说是历来最伟大的儿童图书作家，不过他最让人愉快、最富有想象力、最淘气的作品还要数1964年的经典之作。”五本提名作品中最受欢迎的是查理·巴基特、他的爷爷乔、奥帕伦帕人和、带查理进入威利·旺卡巧克力工厂的五张金券的故事，“世界上有史以来最神奇、最梦幻、最非凡的巧克力制造商！”“疯狂的事儿要发生了，查理心想。可他不害怕，甚至一点儿不紧张，就是激动得不得了。”
7. AA Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)
七.《小熊》，AA·米尔恩著（1926年）
Milne named the characters in his classic children’s book after his own son Christopher Robin, his cuddly teddy bear, his stuffed animals Piglet, Tigger, the donkey Eeyore and others. Christopher and Pooh wander through the Hundred Acre Wood not unlike the forest near Milne’s home in East Sussex. His first adventure sends him up a tree buzzing with bees, singing a little song to himself: “Isn’t it funny how a bear likes honey…” And the adventures continue, narrated with sweet grace by a father who includes his son and his son’s world in every new plot twist. A playwright and contributor to Punch Milne will be forever known as the creator of the perfect read-aloud nursery tale.
米尔恩的经典儿童图书作品以他的儿子克里斯多夫·罗宾、讨人喜爱的泰迪熊、毛绒动物玩具小猪、玩具老虎、驴子屹耳和其他东西命名。克里斯多夫和小熊漫步穿过百亩林，百亩林跟东苏塞克斯郡的米尔恩家附近的森林可不一样。第一次冒险他爬上了一棵有蜜蜂嗡嗡直响的树，唱一首歌给自己听：“小熊喜欢蜂蜜啊多么的有趣……”冒险继续着，言语中带着一位父亲将儿子和儿子的世界融入每次故事新曲折中的甜蜜慈爱。身为剧作家、同是英国老牌幽默杂志《笨拙》贡献人的米尔恩，将作为完美朗读童话的创作者被人永远铭记。
6. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince (1943)
六.《小王子》，安东尼·圣-埃克絮佩里著（1943年）
This parable, written and illustrated by an aviator disappeared with his plane in 1944, encapsulates the meaning of life in an encounter between a pilot who crash lands in the Sahara and a young prince visiting from a small planet. “It is only with one’s heart that one can see clearly,” Saint-Exupéry writes, in one of dozens of illuminating life lessons. “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
这本寓言由一名1944年和飞机一并失踪的飞行员编绘，注入了迫降在撒哈拉沙漠的飞行员和一位来自某颗小星球的年轻王子邂逅中的生命意义。圣-埃克絮佩里留给人们几十条颇具启发性的生活教导，其中一条写到“真心之人才能看透，本质上的事物是肉眼看不见的。”
“Discovered in childhood, this story of leaving home brings the hope and promise of a world opening up to the little prince,” says Shelf Awareness children’s editor Jennifer M Brown. “As we return to the book at later points in our lives, we experience the story from the pilot's point of view, sadder yet richer, and heartened because we are not alone on life's journey.”
“童年接触过这本书，书里离家的故事给小王子带去了世界向他敞开胸怀的希望和诺言，”书架注意网儿童图书编辑珍妮弗·M·布朗说到。“长大些再看这本书，对故事的理解更伤感却也更丰富了，还因为人生旅途中并非孤身一人而欢欣鼓舞。”
5. Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868)
五.《小妇人》，路易莎·梅·奥尔科特（1868年）
4. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
四.《爱丽丝梦游仙境记》，刘易斯·卡罗尔著（1865年）
“Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversation?’ Suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.” Charles Dodgson’s Victorian fantasy was an instant sensation when published 150 years ago under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. To this day Alice’s trip down the rabbit hole and her encounters with the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter and the rest, are fresh fodder for the literary imagination. Alice is now in the public domain, and the versions and variations continue to multiply. “Alice will always be my favourite because I love her curiosity and bravery,” says Library Journal columnist Barbara Hoffert.
“爱丽丝开始厌倦了坐在姐姐身边无事可做：有那么一两次她偷瞄姐姐看的书，可书上既没图片也没对话，‘没有图片和对话的书有什么用？’爱丽丝心想。突然，一只双眼粉红的白兔从她身边跑了过去。”150年前，这本查尔斯·道奇森以笔名刘易斯·卡罗尔出版的维多利亚时代风格奇幻作品立刻引起了轰动。时至今日，爱丽丝的兔子洞之旅和与柴郡猫、白兔先生、红心皇后、疯帽子等角色的相遇都是文学想象力的新鲜素材。现在爱丽丝属于公有领域作品，各种版本和变异版仍在增加。“爱丽丝永远都是我最喜欢的，我爱她的好奇心和勇敢，”《图书馆杂志》专栏作家芭芭拉·霍弗特说到。
【注】：公有领域指当专有权利期间届止，作品便进入公有领域。公有领域作品由于没有专属权利人，因此公众有权自由使用。范围包括人类的一部分作品与一部分知识的总汇，可以是文章、艺术品、音乐、科学、发明等。对于领域内的知识财产，任何个人或团体都不具所有权益（如版权或专利）。
3. Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are (1963)
三.《野兽家园》，莫里斯·森达克著（1963年）
In Sendak’s Caldecott Medal-winning picture book young Max, sent to bed without supper by his mother, escapes into his imagination, “where the wild things are”. “It's a concise, eloquent, moving depiction of a child learning to master his own emotions, which is the chief task of all children everywhere,” writes Time magazine book critic Lev Grossman.“This is one of those books that has everything: beautiful, rich and surprising text, matched with beautiful, rich and surprising illustration,” says Daniel Hahn, author of the new Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. “But more than that… it’s how the words and the pictures and the page design combine to tell a story that is both simple and full of psychological insight, wisdom and truth. As close as it’s possible to come to a perfect book.”
凯迪克大奖荣获金奖的森达克绘本里，小男孩马克斯没吃晚饭就被妈妈赶上了床，于是他逃进了自己的想象之中。《泰晤士报》书评家列弗·格罗斯曼写到：“《野兽家园》描写了一个小男孩学会掌控自己情绪的历程，简洁、感人而富有表现力。而这种学习也是世上每个孩子的首要任务。”新《牛津儿童文学指南》作者丹尼尔·哈恩说：“这本书可谓内容应有尽有的书之一：字句优美动人、丰富多彩又光怪陆再离配上同等优秀水准的插画。但更可贵的是文字、图画和页面设计结合来讲故事，既朴实又充满对心灵的洞悉，饱含智慧与真理。这本书几近完美。”
【注】：凯迪克大奖1938年设立，评选着重作品的艺术价值、特殊创意，尤其每一本得奖作品都必须“寓教于乐”。该奖项是美国最权威的绘本奖，被视作绘本的奥斯卡奖。
2. CS Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
二.《狮子、女巫与衣橱》，CS·刘易斯著（1950年）
【注】：本书后改编为电影《纳尼亚传奇》。
Lewis’ high fantasy classic drew high praise in our critics’ poll. “CS Lewis’ perfect fable The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is subtitled 'a story for children',” says author and critic David Abrams. “But The Chronicles of Narnia are stories for everybody. They can be read as Christian allegory or as a magical fable about four children who stumble across a magic wardrobe and, pushing their way through mothballed fur coats, enter a land of snow and forests and fauns and lampposts and a white-skinned, black-hearted Queen who dispenses turkish delight like deadly heroin.”
评论家投票中刘易斯的经典严肃奇幻之作获得了极高的称赞。“CS·刘易斯所著的童话《狮子、女巫与衣橱》堪称完美。尽管书的副标题写着‘献给孩子们的故事’，但《纳尼亚传奇》的故事却属于每个人，可以当成基督教寓言或者魔法童话看。故事里四个孩子偶然发现了一个魔法衣橱，他们挤过樟脑味儿的毛皮大衣，踏入一片大地：这里有冰雪、有森林、有半人半鹿的牧神、有街灯柱子，还有一位雪白皮肤、乌黑心肠的女王，她把土耳其软糖当致命的海洛因一样驱逐。”
“This enchanting story combines unsettling magic, psychological realism and a deep sense of beauty,” notes critic Roxana Robinson, president of the Authors Guild. “Lewis is wonderful at descxtions of the physical world. It is both thrilling and comforting to read, intelligent, compassionate and graceful.”
美国作家协会会长罗克珊娜·鲁滨逊在笔记中写到：“这个引人入胜的故事结合了令人不安的魔法、心理现实主义和深沉的美感。刘易斯对现实世界的描写相当美妙，读起来既刺激又温馨，机智精明，富有怜悯而不失优雅。”
【注】：严肃奇幻（high fantasy），又译作高度奇幻，指奇幻作品中人物、环境、故事等完全出自幻想，没有现实基础。可理解为“完全架空”。
1. EB White, Charlotte’s Web (1952)
一.《夏洛特的网》，EB·怀特著（1952年）
“One day when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was doomed to die,” writes White. Charlotte’s Web topped our critics’ poll. “If I were asked to put one book in a space capsule to send to some far-off galaxy to evoke life in all its complexity, I would send White's masterpiece about friendship, loss, resignation and mortality,” notes NPR’s Maureen Corrigan. “It was the first book in which I encountered mortality, legacy and love that transcended differences,” writes author and critic Rigoberto González. “Those were huge lessons from a book that, at its core, was about an adorable friendship between a spider and a pig.”
“有一天正要去喂猪时，我开始为猪感到难过了，因为像大多数同类那样，他也注定会死掉，”怀特写到。评论家投票里《夏洛特的网》位居榜首。“如果要我在太空舱里放一本书，好送给某处遥远星系来唤醒各种复杂的生命形式，我会送怀特这本关于友情、失落、放弃和生死的杰作。”美国国家公共电台（NPR）的莫琳·里根的笔记如是说到。身为作家兼评论家里戈韦托·冈萨雷斯写到：“这是第一本让我遇见超越了不同种族间生死、遗赠和爱的书。这本书的精髓在于一头猪和一只蜘蛛的可爱友谊，它赋予人们宝贵的一课。”
“The complex emotions that emerge from the barnyard in EB White’s masterpiece never cloy, but feel true and important,” writes novelist and critic Meg Wolitzer. “Who can forget the opening: Fern in her damp sneakers wrestling to save the life of the runt Wilbur?” asks Karen R Long, who manages the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. “Not just about loyalty and friendship, this perfect book is an introduction to metaphor – the barnyard as life,” says Chicago Tribune literary editor-at-large Elizabeth Taylor. Author and critic Joan Frank calls it “sturdy and deeply wise.” “White managed to write a children’s book that encompasses mortality, friendship, and the power of the written word — amazing”, adds critic Heller McAlpin. According to our poll, Charlotte’s Web is the greatest children’s book of all time.
小说家兼评论家梅格·沃利茨写到：“对EB·怀特杰作里谷场上浮现的复杂情感从未让人觉得厌烦，而是真实、宝贵。”安妮斯菲尔德-沃尔夫图书奖管理人凯伦·R·朗说：“谁会忘记书的开头：弗恩踩着潮乎乎的运动鞋跌跌撞撞地跑去救小猪威尔伯？”《芝加哥论坛报》文学特约编辑伊丽莎白·泰勒说：“不仅是忠诚和友谊，这本可谓完美的书还带入了隐喻——生活就是谷场。”作家兼评论家琼·弗兰克称其“耐读、智慧深沉。”“怀特成功塑造了一本包含生死、友谊和文字力量的儿童图书——太棒了，”评论家海勒·麦克阿尔普林补充说。根据投票，《夏洛特的网》当选史上最伟大儿童图书。
【注】：安妮斯菲尔德-沃尔夫图书奖，美国文学奖项，专为给种族关系和人类文化多样性作出贡献的作品授予荣誉。
