Some pages of the Little Mu Ke series by Xiong Liang, who is a fan of classical Chinese works, and gets inspiration from age-old Chinese myths for his illustrations.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The first book tells of Mu Ke who set several obstacles to avoid intrusion by humans, and how a curious 11-year-old girl Xiao Yu accidentally crosses all the barriers with her new friend nicknamed Little Mu Ke. The second book is about the girl's continuing journey where she disguises herself as a dandelion and attends an event to celebrate the birth of a baby Mu Ke with all residents in the forest. Then suddenly the baby disappears and everyone begins to look for it.

Most of the figures in the story are inspired by those from ancient Chinese classics such as Peach Blossom Spring, Zhuangzi and Shanhaijing (The Classic of Mountains and Seas).

Speaking about the new books, a friend of Xiong says his new series had created a dreamland like that in Alice in Wonderland, yet depicting purely Chinese images as seen in Shanhaijing.