In autumn, Shanghai hosted an international children’s book fair, during which the Mizielinskis’ book had its Chinese premiere. Jędras says:
During only the first day of the fair, 8,000 copies of the book were sold.
Shanghai Daily reported that the three-day fair attracted as many as 38,000 young readers and their parents and over 8,000 publishing professionals. Almost 50,000 titles, published by 300 companies from all over the world, were exhibited. The Grand Prix prize for illustration went to Michał Suska from Poland (who illustrated Katarzyna Stefanik’s W Koło, among other books) and Zhou Jieyuan from China.
A mother of a 9-year-old explained:
Most Chinese books look too realistic. A leg looks like a real leg and a hand like a real hand. But it doesn’t have to be that way for children.
That opinion must have been shared by the jury of the competition. On Wednesday, Dwie Siostry announced the Mizielińskis’ success in China:
We are happy to inform that the Chinese edition of Under Earth, Under Water by Ola and Daniel Mizieliński was awarded 2015 Best Book of the Year, awarded by the Beijing News Weekly Review. We sincerely congratulate the authors and the publisher, Beijing Yuanliu Classic Culture.
The Polish publisher plans to continue promoting the book abroad. According to Jędras:
Under Earth, Under Water has been translated into Russian, Italian, French and Dutch. The British version is in print right now and in the second half of the year, the book will be published in the United States as well. We are also planning Korean, Japanese, Swedish, Spanish and German editions. I believe that the book has enormous potential, as it is a mine of information. It isn’t a one-evening reading, rather it’s meant to be gradually discovered and in a sense it replaces many other books.
Source: wyborcza.pl, compiled by JRK, translated by OK, 26 Jan 2016