The UK edition of Fighting the Epidemic: Staying at Home Series, a Chinese picture book series about COVID-19, has been published.

Photo provided to People's Daily

Written from a child’s perspective, the series addresses six families and the effect of the novel coronavirus on their daily lives.

The stories focus on the human kindness shown by ordinary people facing difficulties.

Through literature and artistic expression, the series aims to help children understand and cope with the pandemic’s crises and difficulties.

The series was created in January 2020 by some of China’s best-loved children’s authors such as Zhao Ling and Zhang Xiaoling, winner of the Feng Zikai Chinese Children’s Picture Book Award, and illustrator Yan Qing, shortlisted for the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava.

The books have been translated and the international rights sold to 19 countries. The series was translated into English by Helen Wang, a curator at the British Museum and winner of the Marsh Christian Award for Children's Literature in Translation.

Wang Yongbo, president of Phoenix Juvenile and Children's Publishing, said that reading empowered people to “travel beyond our own space.”

“I hope young readers in the UK will read these stories and feel empathy for young people in China,” Wang said.

“We can use books to help to share worldwide experiences of children and young people coping with and responding to COVID-19.”