The picture book is only 40 pages thick, the content is very simple with short lyrics, however, "Sparrow Travel" is a great gift that artist Olivier Blanchin wants to send to Vietnam, the country he has been attached to for the past 7 years. It took 3 years to complete the book, "Sparrow Travel" is not only for boys and girls aged 5, 6 as Blanchin shared, but through the book, he wants the world in general, the French in particular in his homeland to see a strongly developing, very dynamic and also peaceful Vietnam today.
A Frenchman in Love with Hanoi
Blanchin was born in the south of France, to an artistic family, with both his parents being visual artists. His homeland is also beautiful. From the Mediterranean Sea to the Pyrenees, through rolling vineyards, lavender fields or sunflowers, the south of France has it all. Visitors will also find steep cliffs hiding beautiful villages bathed in sunlight. The famous painter Van Gogh created a work called “Le Sud” (The South) during his stay in the south of France, seeking the warmth of the climate, the bright colors and inspiration for his post-impressionist paintings.
In fact, Vietnam and Hanoi appeared in Blanchin's life quite by chance. In 2018, Blanchin came to Vietnam and planned to participate in an artist residency program at an ecological space. However, things did not go as planned. During that time, he spent time getting to know Hanoi and became very fond of the place. He was fascinated by the architectural space, urban areas and crowded atmosphere of the city. According to him, Hanoi is truly a unique city in the above sense.
He found it fascinating to be able to observe the architectural vestiges of the old French style combined with modern construction projects and the development of a country that is changing strongly. Before that, in the minds of him and many people who had never been here, talking about Vietnam meant war, the suffering that this nation had to go through when it was colonized by French colonialists and invaded by American imperialists.
Of course, Blanchin doesn't like everything about Vietnam or Hanoi, but he likes the simplicity of the city, the excitement of everything that happens every day, which is in stark contrast to the complexity of French society that he thinks he doesn't fit in. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, social distancing, and it helped Blanchin realize how much he loves Hanoi and Vietnam.
The people he met everywhere in this land mostly welcomed him with a very warm and honest attitude, especially when he had car problems or got lost. And one thing that never ceased to amaze Blanchin was the strength of Vietnamese women: on construction sites, in the fields, or simply women who took care of their children alone, while still running a business.
That peace has urged Blanchin to want to learn and explore Vietnam more. He planned to visit all the famous lands. Usually, he likes to travel by train, enjoying the slow pace. Traveling forever, from north to south, through the central region or in the remote lands of the Central Highlands, but Hanoi is still the stopping place of the 42-year-old French painter. The reason is simple, he met and married Hanh, a Vietnamese girl working in the logistics industry. The two have a 3-year-old baby together and now, the love for children, the passion for painting and education urge him to create.
A dynamic Vietnam through drawings
Blanchin confided that if he were not drawing and completely free, he would like to create some projects on ecological and environmental protection. Simply put, the project would be educational because he likes children and he wants to convey his knowledge to them. In fact, through the “detailed crowd” style drawings in “The Travels of Sparrows”, Blanchin is also guiding preschool children to observe, describe, develop thinking and quick reactions.
Therefore, “Sparrow Travelogue” may be only 40 pages long, with simple content, but each page is thousands of detailed drawings, with hundreds of characters. The story is about a young sparrow named Momo living in Hanoi welcoming his cousin Nino living in France back to Vietnam to meet relatives and embark on a journey to explore his homeland by motorbike.
After Momo took Nino around Hanoi, they met with family members before traveling along the S-shaped strip of land, passing through many famous tourist provinces and cities such as Ninh Binh, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Da Lat (Lam Dong)... and stopping in Ho Chi Minh City. Here, the two sparrows continued to explore the city and then returned to Hanoi by train to celebrate the New Year with their family and relatives.
According to Blanchin, his original idea was to publish a picture book in France, so he planned to tell a story about Vietnam to foreign readers in general and in France in particular. However, just like his accidental attachment to Vietnam, “The Traveling Sparrow” was born completely against Blanchin’s plans. From not choosing France to publish the book, the content of the book also had to change to suit the Vietnamese market. In addition, many of his ideas were not included in the book, especially when he wanted to build the content according to the “search” books for children that are very popular in the West. All of this forced Blanchin to simplify the story as well as his own interesting research and discoveries about Vietnam.
It is worth mentioning the genre of “search” books, which are very popular with children abroad and Vietnamese children are also familiar with books like I Spy or Where Is Wally in learning English and playing at primary school age. They train children’s observation skills, descriptive skills and reasoning skills. For example, in the book Where Is Wally, there is a series of detailed illustrations on two pages, depicting dozens or more people doing many different interesting things at a certain location.
Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally (or Waldo) and his friends hidden within the pages of the book. Likewise, Blanchin’s “The Travels of the Sparrows” is engaging and captivating with small details that motivate children to explore and find the two sparrows in the picture.
Since it is a picture book about landscapes, the narrative is brief, with some hints for the reader to look for details of the two sparrows Momo and Nino in each picture. According to Blanchin, this is a children's book first, so he wanted to keep things relatively simple. Children will also be more interested in looking at the landscapes than the food or culture.
However, beyond a children’s “search” landscape picture book, “The Travels of the Sparrow” is Blanchin’s special gift to his second homeland. Otherwise, how could he understand the meaning of the old saying “golden forests, silver seas” to express right on the cover of the book, with the sea on one side of Momo and Nino’s path of discovery, and forests and developed cities on the other.
The artist born in 1983 confided that he wants to publish more books on many other topics in Vietnam, not because he is the first foreign author to cooperate with Comicola Joint Stock Company, which operates in the entertainment field, publishing cultural entertainment products by Vietnamese authors to publish "Chim Se Du Ky". According to Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong, founder and Director of Comicola Company, they have discussed with Blanchin about plans, possibly publishing another travel book or a project combining comics and music after "Chim Se Du Ky" was successfully launched at the At Ty 2025 Book Street Festival.
Source: https://baolangson.vn/travel-viet-nam-qua-tranh-ve-5039595.html
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