CRI听力:Swedish Detective Fiction for Children Arrives in China

"Lasse and Maja's Detective Agency" is a series of novels set in and around the small town of Valleby in Sweden, where the two main characters, Lasse and Maja, run a small detective agency and solve a series of exciting and puzzling mysteries.

Martin Widmark, the author of the book, told those gathered at the ceremony that his teaching career helped him learn about children's reading preferences.

"As a teacher, you would always think about how you should explain this or that to a child. And that's also with me when I do the books because I always think about the reader when I write."

"Lasse and Maja's Detective Agency" is a novel that Widmark wrote for children six to 10 years old. He said his own two children are always the first ones to read his books, and if they are not interested in his stories, he will not send the books to the publishing house.

The first 10 books in the popular series were published by the China Children's Press and Publication Group for Chinese readers in August as part of a cultural exchange program between China and Sweden. The stories are about mysteries that take place in a hotel, cinema, on a train and on a university campus.

Cai Guoyun, executive editor of the Chinese version of the books, says Widmark's children's novels enjoy great popularity in Swedish libraries, even surpassing the readership of the children's books written by Astrid Lindgren, the well-known author of the rollicking story of Pippi Longstocking.

Cai said "Lasse and Maja's Detective Agency" was the first of Widmark's books to be published in China. When asked to comment on whether the cultural gap might have an impact on Chinese readers' understanding of the detective stories, Cai said he was optimistic that the books would be well received here.

"I believe Chinese children will not only accept it, but also enjoy reading it. The different cultural customs described in "Lasse and Maja's Detective Agency" including the Swedish lifestyle and local climate, all give young Chinese readers fresh knowledge."

Some people have expressed concern about the growing volume of e-book sales posing a threat to the sale of published hard copies. But Zhang Yvliang, an online bookstore service provider, says traditional printed books are irreplaceable when it comes to certain types of books such as children's books.

"For instance, e-books cannot replace children's books. The main reading material for children will still be a traditionally published print copy of the book rather than the e-book, which would be harmful to their eyesight."

For CRI, I'm Wei Tong.