2007年新年刚刚到来，年届八旬的浙江师范大学老教授蒋风，欣喜地收到第11届国际格林奖初评组发来的“伊妹儿”，告知他荣幸地被列为第11届国际格林奖候选人。
　　国际格林奖是国际儿童文学界的一项权威奖项，每两年评选一次，每次从全世界范围内评选出一位对儿童文学作出突出贡献的人。格林奖至今已评选过10届，已有10人获此殊荣。蒋风先生自离休以来，十多年内在儿童文学战线上已先后获得全国艺术科学重点研究一等奖、宋庆龄儿童文学奖首届特殊贡献奖、亚洲儿童文学学会共同会长推荐奖以及第二次世界儿童文学大会授予的儿童文学理论贡献奖等10多个大奖。
　　蒋风先生是中国儿童文学理论界的大家，他对中国当代儿童文学理论的贡献，无论在中国当代高等师范院校多层次的儿童文学教材建设方面，还是中国当代儿童文学庞大的理论体系构建方面，都称得上是开拓者和奠基人之一，他在儿童文学研究领域树起了一座丰碑。
　　蒋风先生于1925年出生在浙江金华一个家境贫寒的小学教员家庭里，在那个兵荒马乱年代，父亲的收入极其微薄，命运没有让他享受多少童年欢乐，只是在他读小学三年级时，一位姓斯的女教师在每周一节的故事课中，给他们讲过意大利亚米契斯《爱的教育》中的不少动人故事，这让他第一次在美妙的童话世界里找到了许多童年乐趣。这位女教师发现小蒋风特别喜爱童话，后来就把《爱的教育》这本书赠给了他，并在扉页上写下了这样一句话：“要永远记住：让自己那颗平凡的心，时时刻刻闪现出不平凡的光采来。”从此，这本书成了他最心爱的读物。蒋风每当说起他与儿童文学如何结缘时，总是动情地说：“我常常这样想，如果我身上有值得肯定的一些性格和品德，这或多或少都得益于这本书！”
　　蒋先生与儿童文学结缘，还有一件具有人生转折意义的事。1947年他从英士大学毕业不久，在《申报》上看到一则消息，说三个孩子因为看了一本关于宣扬“得道成仙”的荒诞连环画，便结伴到四川峨眉山学道寻仙，后来三人共同跳崖以求“飞升”，结果一个个粉身碎骨，走上了不归路。这一惨剧给蒋风以极大的震撼，使他真切地看到了反动、迷信、荒诞的书刊对儿童心灵所造成的毒害，从而使他萌发了献身于儿童文学事业的心愿。
　　当他踏上社会，担任《申报》记者和国际新闻社驻浙记者后，一方面做好本职工作，一方面抽出时间尝试进行儿童文学的创作。新中国成立后，蒋风走上了教育岗位，先是在中学和师范学校任教，并由此踏上了系统研究儿童文学的历程。特别是从1956年开始，他先后被调到浙江师范学院、杭州大学、浙江师范大学任教后，给蒋风从更高的层面上从事儿童文学的研究提供了新的机缘和广阔平台。
　　上世纪50年代末和60年代初，随着教育事业的发展，高等学校开设了儿童文学课程，但在许多人的观念中，总认为在学术研究中搞“古”和“洋”的才算有“大学问”，而搞儿童文学不过是“小儿科”，因而对开设这门课程问津者寥寥。蒋先生顶住这种压力，从青草萋萋的处女地上搭起儿童文学课架子，开了个好头，但在十年浩劫中，搞儿童文学研究也成了罪名，他横遭批斗，然而这并没有撼动他的执著追求，他满怀信心地等待着儿童文学春天的到来。
　　改革开放后，蒋风在儿童文学研究上获得非凡的成就，近30年来，他编写了《儿童文学概论》《中国现代儿童文学史》《中国当代儿童文学史》《蒋风儿童文学论文选》以及由他领衔主编的《中国儿童文学大系·理论卷》卷一、卷二，《中国儿童文学大系·诗歌卷》卷一、卷二等等。这些著作在国内外儿童文学界都产生了广泛的影响。在第二届世界儿童文学颁奖大会上，颁奖辞上赞扬他“把中国儿童文学理论提升到世界水平”，他所编著的儿童文学教材，以《儿童学概论》为题集结出版，成为新中国第一本系统的儿童文学理论专著，被各大学广泛地采用作为教材，并在国内多次获奖。
　　
　　在蒋风50多年的教育生涯中，最令他自豪的是1978年在浙江师范学院任教时，创办了我国第一个儿童文学研究所，并成为第一个在国内开始招收儿童文学硕士研究生的高等学府，先后招了11届，培养了一批出类拔萃的青年学者。
　　离休后，不顾自身年事已高，仍奋力创办中国儿童文学研究中心，免费招收非学历儿童研究生，又用自己离休所得生活津贴单枪匹马创办《儿童文学信息报》，每期发行3500份，免费赠送国内外儿童文学界的朋友和需要者及相关机构。上个世纪80年代以来，更热衷于儿童文学国际交流，先后到过美、日、韩、新、马、港、澳、台等地讲学，播撒儿童文学种子。
　　“孩子是人类的未来。儿童文学事业是人类最有希望的事业，我愿为它贡献全部心血。”这是蒋风一生的理念。正是这一理念，使他成为中国儿童文学研究的奠基者之一，成为中国儿童文学界的泰斗，成为中国儿童文学界乃至世界儿童文学界的名人。
　　
　　A Giant in Children’s Tales
　　By Pan Guojun, our staff reporter
　　
　　Just after the New Year’s Day of 2007, Professor Jiang Feng was informed by the preliminary jury of the 11th International Brothers Grimm Award that he was on a shortlist for the final winner.
　　A biennial international award in the field of children’s literature, the honor is awarded to one winner who has made outstanding contribution to children’s literature. Jiang Feng is on the radar of the organizers of the Brothers Grimm Award because he has devoted his life to the theoretical study of children’s literature and has won numerous honors since he retired more than 10 years ago. A giant in China’s children’s literature study, Jiang is a pioneer and founder of theoretical studies of fairy tales in the country.
　　
　　Born into a poor family in 1925, Jiang Feng did not have much fun as a child. It was not until during the third year in the primary school that something happened to him. A teacher surnamed Si began to tell stories from the Italian writer Edmondo de Amicis’s novel Heart to the class. The stories touched his heart and rendered him joy he had never known before. Finding Jiang fascinated with the stories, the teacher later gave the book to Jiang as a gift. She wrote on the fly page:’Kemember forever: let your ordinary heart shine extraordinary lights every moment.?This book became Jiang’s favorite. Whenever talking about his seemingly predestined passion for children’s literature, the scholar will say emotionally, “If there are things positive in my character, they come from that book.?Another thing that happened shortly after his graduation from college in 1947 directed his life toward children’s literature. One day he read a piece of news of the deaths of three children, who jumped off a cliff in the hope of becoming immortal and flying off into the heaven after reading a picture-story book. The tragedy shocked Jiang Feng.
　　
　　Working as a full-time journalist in Zhejiang for the Shanghai-based Shen Pao, probably the most influential newspaper in China in the first half of the 20th century, Jiang studied children’s literature in his spare time. After 1949, he became a teacher, which enabled him to study the subject more systematically. From 1956 on, he taught at a college, which gave him a platform for his research and study in the field.
　　In the late 1950s and early 1960s, some colleges in the country began to offer courses in children’s literature. However, few were interested in such a study. Most students were fascinated by ancient China’s literature or foreign literatures. Jiang established himself in this rarely visited field. But, he was condemned during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) for his devotion to children’s literature. However, this absurd setback did not deter him.
　　Since he resumed his study shortly after the reform and opening up to the outside world more than 30 years ago, Jiang has accomplished a great deal in his dedicated field. He has authored quite a few landmark theoretical books on the subject. Under his leadership, important anthologies of theories and poems of children’s literature have been published. His theoretical contributions are influential both at home and abroad. Introduction to Children’s Literature, compiled by him, is New China’s first ever book that systematically handles theories of children’s literature on an academic level. The prize-winning book has been adopted by many colleges as textbooks for children’s literature courses.
　　
　　The proudest thing that Jiang believed he has achieved occurred in 1978 when he was teaching at the Zhejiang Teachers College. He founded the country’s first research institute for children’s literature and turned the college into the country’s first higher education institution that offered a graduate course for children’s literature study. For 11 years, the college recruited graduate students and a host of young and promising scholars in the field have come out from the course.
　　Still preserving a solid state of young mind, the 82-year-old professor is continuing to work at children’s literature. He states his belief in children’s fairy tales this way: “Ihildren are the future of mankind and children’s literature is the most promising undertaking of mankind. I am willing to devote all my life to the cause.?
　　(Translated by David)