Hearing the voice of one’s own heart - Thoughts after reading "Children of the Bajau People"

Because of a demining book list some time ago, "Children of the Bajau People" was successfully released. I chose this book to write a review this time, thinking that I could write thousands of words eloquently. When I actually started writing, I got stuck because I was listening to all kinds of sounds but couldn't hear my own voice. When the deadline came, I decided to close my ears and listen to the voice from my heart.

"I don't know what heaven is, I only know that I was born here and this is my home." This sentence reminds me of my young self, who always liked to wander around in various ways: Take the green train, ride a bike, or hitchhike. I yearn for the picturesque paradise on earth and want to try to live the life of the locals, but I can't understand it in just three or five days. I hurriedly took photos and continued on to the next stop. The locals still lived according to their own rhythm, and I didn't cause a single ripple.

I learned about this book because I was asked by my children to read "Looking for Lu Binghua" for about half a year. It was also the first time I came across a picture book that uses photography to communicate. Since children like to read, I continued to look for similar picture books, and found "Children of the Baya People" published earlier than "Looking for Lu Binghua" - Teacher Peng Yi's first photography picture book. When I read the title of the book, I couldn't help but wonder: Who are the Bajau people? Why write about their children? Are they any different? Looking at the cover again, three children are sitting in a canoe rowing. If I didn’t pay attention to the water waves in the upper right corner, I would think it was a copycat of the “Mirror of the Sky”. Are the rowing children the children of the Bajau people? If you have the same doubts as me, then continue to read the inner pages. "Children of the Bajau People" uses real pictures to show us part of the life of the Bajau people. Their past: "Grandpa said that we are nomads floating on the sea, and our ancestors have lived on this blue coral sea for generations." Their daily life: the men go fishing at sea; the women cook, nurse and take care of their children; the children play freely. Their future: "Grandma said that when we grow up, we will go fishing with our father."

Do children like reading this book? The answer is yes. As a three-and-a-half-year-old child, she cannot understand deeper questions: why they live at sea, how they receive education, and whether they are like the children of shepherds who "herd sheep, grow up, and get married" for generations. -Have a baby" and so on. What she pays attention to is: these children want to swim and can jump out of the window to reach a large swimming pool; the tricks they play are very different from what she usually plays: diving, water fights, climbing trees, swinging, and rowing .

This book gave me the feeling of seeing a documentary on paper for the first time, especially it was somewhat similar to a documentary I had seen before, "A day in life". The difference is that "A day in life" contains more content: birth, old age, illness and death, ups and downs, peace and war, poverty and wealth, so it is suitable for adults with certain life experience. "Children of the Bajau People" mainly presents the joy of childhood, which is more suitable for children.

When I bought books before, I felt that the quality of the books translated by "Peng Yi" was guaranteed. But since the incident involving a famous teacher in Longgang, I have begun to reflect on myself, whether I am choosing books with the aura of a celebrity and neglecting objectivity.

After reading it, I had a lot of doubts, mainly about how the author completed such a record. Is it like a documentary film? Will there still be staged photos? How to ensure the restoration of the work when it is printed into a book. Why not make a documentary. After understanding the author's production background, I feel that the story behind the picture book is more vivid.