Plip, the Umbrella Man

　　雨不停地下，普立普心情也不斷往下沉，於是普立普決定變成雨傘人，但普立普發現當雨傘人的日子也不輕鬆啊！雨傘人雖然不會被雨淋濕，但好寂寞喔。好不容易在路上遇見另一個雨傘女孩，他們試圖擁抱，只可惜雨傘檔在他們兩人中間抱不到彼此，普立普覺得越來越沮喪，緊緊關閉自己的傘，感覺胸中一把怒火升起。颶風、龍捲風、颱風迎面衝撞普立普，大量雨水襲擊，普立普再也HOLD不住啦！只好將傘裡雨水一傾而洩。作者透過這則以簡單色調但充滿溫度的故事，引導小讀者們發掘內心各種情緒，懷疑、愛、信心…遇到這些情緒時該如何自處呢？【文∕博客來外文館】

　　Plip came into the world as an ordinary man. But when it started to rain, he became more and more unhappy. At first, he thought the rain would stop. When it didn’t, Plip decided to live the rest of his life as an umbrella man.

　　Plip now walks through the world protected from raindrops, but he’s lonely. When he meets an umbrella woman, they try to hug, but their umbrellas get in the way. This makes Plip even sadder and he finally closes himself up and leaves the umbrella woman behind. Feelings rage inside of him. Cyclones, tornadoes, and typhoons break over him and his umbrella can’t hold up. It turns inside out and collects a whole sea of rainwater that gets heavier and heavier until Plip has no choice but to pour himself out …

作者簡介
    
　　David Sire enjoys getting children and young people to think about life’s questions—both big and small. He writes books and music, and is the founder of a concert series called BIDULOSOPHIE. On stage, Sire plays guitar, sings children’s songs, and tells stories. He also teaches young people about writing and plays music with school children in Africa and South America.

　　Thomas Baas studied with the French children’s book illustrator Claude Lapointe at the School of Applied Arts in Strasbourg. He now lives in Paris where he has worked on numerous children’s books. To Baas, atmospheric colors and unusual type are especially important to help communicate a story’s message.