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The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky
'Astonishing to behold.' — The New York Times It's summertime and a boy and his dog are leaving behind their apartment in the busy city. His grandparents' home in the countryside feels like a different world. From the window, the curious boy sees a path leading enticingly into the forest. He can't wait to explore. At each bend in the trail the boy discovers more wonders of the surrounding natural world, from towering trees to a still, silent lake. He can't resist diving down, down into the cool water and greeting the fish below. Then later, when boy and dog have been warmed by the gentle sunshine, they wander back, contentedly, to their family. But before they go to sleep, nature gives them one last dazzling they look up, up to a night sky awash with stars. Without a word, The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky tells the heartfelt and uplifting story of a child's independent discovery of the natural world. Kim Jihyun cleverly captures excitement, wonder and joy in intricate illustrations using a deceptively simple color palate. This is a beautiful wordless story about allowing ourselves to be present in the moment and see the world afresh.
24 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2017
1 person is currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Kim Jihyun
29 books7 followersSee also: 김지현
Kim Jihyun is an illustrator, graphic designer and picture book creator from South Korea. She studied Design and Illustration at the University of Brighton, UK, and Seoul National University, South Korea, and lives in Seoul with her husband and their young daughter. The Depth of the lake and the Height of the Sky is Jihyun's first picture book. It was illustrated using writing ink, which allows Jihyun to express subtle emotions and to illustrate different qualities of light. The story was inspired by her feeling of serenity in nature; a stark contrast to her life in a busy city.
Kim Jihyun is an illustrator, graphic designer and picture book creator from South Korea. She studied Design and Illustration at the University of Brighton, UK, and Seoul National University, South Korea, and lives in Seoul with her husband and their young daughter. The Depth of the lake and the Height of the Sky is Jihyun's first picture book. It was illustrated using writing ink, which allows Jihyun to express subtle emotions and to illustrate different qualities of light. The story was inspired by her feeling of serenity in nature; a stark contrast to her life in a busy city.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
January 4, 2022
Jihyun Kim’s picture book tells a story solely through images. It’s summer, a young boy living in a city apartment travels with his parents and his dog to visit his grandparents in the South Korean countryside. Once there, he immerses himself in the sights and sounds of the rural landscape. A simply told but memorable piece, composed of subtle, luminous, evocative illustrations. Kim’s a Seoul-based artist, designer and storyteller and this is her debut picture book.
Thanks to Edelweiss plus and publisher Floris Books for an arc
Thanks to Edelweiss plus and publisher Floris Books for an arc
March 25, 2022
My thanks to Floris Books/Ingram Publishing Services and Edelweiss for a review copy of this book.
The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky is a beautiful picture book which tells a story, or rather gets one to experience it, entirely through pictures, without a word of text, except a short note at the end explaining the author’s intention and idea behind the book. This is the work of South Korean illustrator, graphic designer, and picture book creator Kim Jihyun, who is based in Seoul. (I was happy to see that her name appears in the book in the Korean way, surname first.) The book is illustrated using ‘writing ink’ which enables her to ‘express subtle emotions and illustrate different qualities of light’.
The story itself or rather its premise is simple. A little boy and his parents and dog (a collie, I think) live in the city, where all that’s visible from the window of their flat, is buildings. For the holidays, the family head out in their car, to the country, where one set of grandparents live. The car crossing the river represents the shift from city to country. There they arrive at the grandparents’ home, a complete contrast from their flat in the city—away from anything else (only in one picture can one see a couple of other houses around)—and close to the forest and a lake. Here boy and dog set off to explore the forest and experience nature, just taking in the greenery and calm—and then go for a swim in the lake, looking at the fish down below (at least the boy does). There is then a family dinner and more time in peace, spent simply gazing at the stars.
The story might not sound like much but more than story, this meant to convey a sense of serenity, of peace, and it does this brilliantly. The boy and dog set off into the forest, taking in the calm and the foliage all around them—his expression at first is one of wonder (the dog’s smiley face, I loved). Then they come upon the lake where there is just them and the lake, and once again a sense of absolute silence and peace. When he goes for a swim, he sees the different fish and plants under the water bringing him both amazement and delight. Then there is some silent time spent simply lying by the lake and then under the stars, after dinner. The time in the forest made me think of the Japanese notion of shinrin-yoku (forest bathing)—simply immersing oneself in the green forest, taking in nature, experiencing the peace. These moments of serenity also in some senses, reminded me of some paintings by artist Nicholas Roerich which I like very much—ones often depicting just the landscape or just one lone person out in nature.
The artwork was really lovely. I adored the little details in the illustrations—from the boy’s messy room in the city, the boy’s artwork on the walls there, the family pictures in the grandparents’ home, the expressions of wonder and happiness on their faces when they are out in nature, the scene with the family dinner where the family is eating while the dog eyes a cat through the window. And then there is of course the light—and why I quoted the sentence about the author’s medium earlier—this was something I loved in the artwork and it comes through best in the illustrations of the lake (though it is there all through—even for instance, when we spy the lake through the trees)—the sunlight coming through as the boy dives in and once again as he heads back out, as well as the sun shining in the sky (even the splashes of the water are beautifully done). This was absolutely wonderful. And the gorgeous night sky with beautiful stars, another moment of perfect calm (and one of my personal favourites since that is something I like to do myself, though there are barely any stars visible where I am).
A lovely book, and one which I think adults will be able to appreciate more fully, even though it is labelled a Junior Library Guild Section.
I've included pictures with my review on my blog since I'm hopeless at doing so here: https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2...
The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky is a beautiful picture book which tells a story, or rather gets one to experience it, entirely through pictures, without a word of text, except a short note at the end explaining the author’s intention and idea behind the book. This is the work of South Korean illustrator, graphic designer, and picture book creator Kim Jihyun, who is based in Seoul. (I was happy to see that her name appears in the book in the Korean way, surname first.) The book is illustrated using ‘writing ink’ which enables her to ‘express subtle emotions and illustrate different qualities of light’.
The story itself or rather its premise is simple. A little boy and his parents and dog (a collie, I think) live in the city, where all that’s visible from the window of their flat, is buildings. For the holidays, the family head out in their car, to the country, where one set of grandparents live. The car crossing the river represents the shift from city to country. There they arrive at the grandparents’ home, a complete contrast from their flat in the city—away from anything else (only in one picture can one see a couple of other houses around)—and close to the forest and a lake. Here boy and dog set off to explore the forest and experience nature, just taking in the greenery and calm—and then go for a swim in the lake, looking at the fish down below (at least the boy does). There is then a family dinner and more time in peace, spent simply gazing at the stars.
The story might not sound like much but more than story, this meant to convey a sense of serenity, of peace, and it does this brilliantly. The boy and dog set off into the forest, taking in the calm and the foliage all around them—his expression at first is one of wonder (the dog’s smiley face, I loved). Then they come upon the lake where there is just them and the lake, and once again a sense of absolute silence and peace. When he goes for a swim, he sees the different fish and plants under the water bringing him both amazement and delight. Then there is some silent time spent simply lying by the lake and then under the stars, after dinner. The time in the forest made me think of the Japanese notion of shinrin-yoku (forest bathing)—simply immersing oneself in the green forest, taking in nature, experiencing the peace. These moments of serenity also in some senses, reminded me of some paintings by artist Nicholas Roerich which I like very much—ones often depicting just the landscape or just one lone person out in nature.
The artwork was really lovely. I adored the little details in the illustrations—from the boy’s messy room in the city, the boy’s artwork on the walls there, the family pictures in the grandparents’ home, the expressions of wonder and happiness on their faces when they are out in nature, the scene with the family dinner where the family is eating while the dog eyes a cat through the window. And then there is of course the light—and why I quoted the sentence about the author’s medium earlier—this was something I loved in the artwork and it comes through best in the illustrations of the lake (though it is there all through—even for instance, when we spy the lake through the trees)—the sunlight coming through as the boy dives in and once again as he heads back out, as well as the sun shining in the sky (even the splashes of the water are beautifully done). This was absolutely wonderful. And the gorgeous night sky with beautiful stars, another moment of perfect calm (and one of my personal favourites since that is something I like to do myself, though there are barely any stars visible where I am).
A lovely book, and one which I think adults will be able to appreciate more fully, even though it is labelled a Junior Library Guild Section.
I've included pictures with my review on my blog since I'm hopeless at doing so here: https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2...
May 17, 2022
A wordless and somewhat over-sized picture book of South Korean illustrator and picture book creator Kim Jihyun that is delicately and intricately illustrated, the story of a boy from the city whose family take him out to the country for a weekend, where the boy and his dog spend a day together. It's subtly colored, very muted, but a joyous celebration of nature, based in part on the author's day in the country. Gorgeous and yet restrained, in a way.
February 9, 2025
South Korean graphic designer and illustrator Kim Jihyun's 2017 The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky (2017) is basically and delightfully a visually stunning and aesthetically engaging wordless picture book about an urban child visiting and enjoying the countryside.
Now with Jiuyun's full page pen and ink illustrations for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky gloriously presenting a lovingly tender tribute to and celebration of the wonders of nature, her wordless storytelling smoothly but also with an aesthetic sense of adventure and discovery moves from a busy city to a much more rural area where the young boy and his family are welcomed to a small cottage by an older couple (the grandparents, I am assuming), and the child then exploring and revelling in a forest path, encounters with giant ferns, swimming to the bottom of a clear lake to greet and imitate fish among the kelp, sunbathing and finally returning to the cottage to eat a family supper and subsequently gaze at the stars. And although I usually require both text and images for enjoying, or rather for truly and with no reservations liking picture books, Jihyun's intricate pictures for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky, the facial expressions and body language of the depicted characters and the visual beauty of the various land and waterscapes, they tell me all I really need to know (that I actually do not at all mind The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky being wordless and with my rating for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky therefore also being five solid, sparkling stars).
And indeed, Kim Jihyun's artwork for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky is of course and truly absolutely and totally visually lovely, is both all-encompassingly expansive and at the same time also full of detail, with my eyes aesthetically adoring both the majesty and beauty of nature and equally so the many small bits and pieces Jihyun's pictures are showing in The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky (such as for example the boy’s room in the city being typically cluttered and messy, the many family pictures in the grandparents’ home, the scene at supper where the dog eyes a cat through the window etc.). And furthermore, and finally, how Kim Jihyun manages to stunningly capture various forms of light (and in particular sunlight and at night starlight) in her artwork for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky (and in basically mostly black, grey, white and a few brown hues) this is certainly and definitely absolutely wonderfully gorgeous (and that aside from my above mentioned five star rating for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky, I also do highly recommend The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky as simply a superb and marvellous visual treat, and not just for children either, but yes for everyone, for anyone both young and old).
Now with Jiuyun's full page pen and ink illustrations for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky gloriously presenting a lovingly tender tribute to and celebration of the wonders of nature, her wordless storytelling smoothly but also with an aesthetic sense of adventure and discovery moves from a busy city to a much more rural area where the young boy and his family are welcomed to a small cottage by an older couple (the grandparents, I am assuming), and the child then exploring and revelling in a forest path, encounters with giant ferns, swimming to the bottom of a clear lake to greet and imitate fish among the kelp, sunbathing and finally returning to the cottage to eat a family supper and subsequently gaze at the stars. And although I usually require both text and images for enjoying, or rather for truly and with no reservations liking picture books, Jihyun's intricate pictures for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky, the facial expressions and body language of the depicted characters and the visual beauty of the various land and waterscapes, they tell me all I really need to know (that I actually do not at all mind The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky being wordless and with my rating for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky therefore also being five solid, sparkling stars).
And indeed, Kim Jihyun's artwork for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky is of course and truly absolutely and totally visually lovely, is both all-encompassingly expansive and at the same time also full of detail, with my eyes aesthetically adoring both the majesty and beauty of nature and equally so the many small bits and pieces Jihyun's pictures are showing in The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky (such as for example the boy’s room in the city being typically cluttered and messy, the many family pictures in the grandparents’ home, the scene at supper where the dog eyes a cat through the window etc.). And furthermore, and finally, how Kim Jihyun manages to stunningly capture various forms of light (and in particular sunlight and at night starlight) in her artwork for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky (and in basically mostly black, grey, white and a few brown hues) this is certainly and definitely absolutely wonderfully gorgeous (and that aside from my above mentioned five star rating for The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky, I also do highly recommend The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky as simply a superb and marvellous visual treat, and not just for children either, but yes for everyone, for anyone both young and old).
August 13, 2022
A wordless oversized picture book, with an afterword by the author where she recounts a peaceful, serene time she experienced on a visit to the woods. Her illustrations are striking, all the more so because they are done in writing ink to they are exclusively in black and white. Very detailed, especially the fauna, both in the ground and under the sea. Jihyun's use of shadows and lighting is particularly impressive. The story is much less memorable.
March 27, 2022
Wauw, wat een machtig mooi woordloos prentenboek is dit! Over een jongen, een vakantie, een meer. De illustraties zijn echt prachtig, je kunt er naar blijven kijken en je blijft nieuwe dingen zien. Heerlijk om te lezen. Aanrader! 😍😍😍😍
November 11, 2022
The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky is the reason I do the Cybils year after year...It's a book that hit me right in the gut, an amazing wordless picture book that celebrates the joy of being in nature. And I had heard nothing about it, I'd seen no mention of it, until it arrived as a nomination for the year's best picture book for the Cybils Awards.
August 5, 2025
For travel theme in children's books group.
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Annoyingly oversize, but the art does warrant.
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A wordless picture book, an ode to the discovery of the natural world. The endpapers are a big clue, as is the jacket blurb. But it took the end note to make it all clear for me... otherwise it seemed kinda blah. I do recommend it to patient families, esp. urban ones planning a trip to the wilderness.
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Annoyingly oversize, but the art does warrant.
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A wordless picture book, an ode to the discovery of the natural world. The endpapers are a big clue, as is the jacket blurb. But it took the end note to make it all clear for me... otherwise it seemed kinda blah. I do recommend it to patient families, esp. urban ones planning a trip to the wilderness.
August 8, 2025
Beauty in tones of gray and blue
January 7, 2023
Deze prachtige tekeningen hebben geen tekst nodig!
July 28, 2022
In her afterword, the author says she hopes this book will help readers connect to nature much the same way she did one summer and experience the same serene feeling she felt. In this story, a young boy, his parents, and their dog leave their bustling city behind and drive to the countryside to visit his grandparents. Soon after arriving, the boy and his dog go for a walk on a winding trail in the forest behind the house. The further they walk, the more the boy notices the wonders of nature around him. Eventually, he and the dog discover a lake with a dock, and the boy dives in, exploring the wonders of underwater nature. Afterward, boy and dog lay on the dock to dry off before heading home at the end of the day. What is remarkable about this wordless picture book how the author manages to convey so much in each illustration, all of which are done using writing ink and a slow-drying blending medium in a palette of grays and whites, with only touches of blue. Each image is filled with details, whether it is the street where the family lives, or the lushness of the forest with it varied flora, the long late afternoon shadows over the countryside, or a sky filled with stars. My only problem was that the boy went swimming alone in the lake. I have drummed it into my Kiddo's head to never ever swim alone, and had to give the same warning to my young readers when we read this book. Otherwise, it is a brilliant wordless picture book that really elicited lots of talk among my kids.
May 19, 2022
Première parution française pour cette autrice et dessinatrice coréenne. "L'été dernier" est un album sans texte, d'une grande quiétude, teintée d'une certaine mélancolie. L'absence de texte invite l'imaginaire collectif à se créer sa propre histoire, tandis que les illustrations, sublimes, nous font continuer le voyage.
April 30, 2022
If I could dive into the pages of any picture book and live in them, it would be these pages. Lovely.
May 25, 2025
Beautifully drawn illustrations.
July 25, 2022
Gorgeous wordless book entirely in black-white-gray. Shows a boy leaving the city with his family to go to the country where he walks in the woods, jumps in a lake, and sinks into the quiet calm of nature.
October 16, 2022
The illustrations and the feelings they pull from the viewer are incredibly beautiful. ☀️
August 30, 2024
Incredibly beautiful from concept to execution. For instance, there is a spread that is the view of a clear sky when you are lying on your back looking up at the sun that looks exactly like it looks.
December 19, 2021
I'd rank this astonishingly lovely and revelatory picture book with its illustrations, created with writing ink and using "a slow dry blending method," as a 3.5. Each page truly is a revelation, prompting readers to pause while reading it or return to the individual pages and images to soak them in and think about their content. While cities have many advantages, this wordless picture book celebrates the joys of the countryside and a quieter way of life. A boy, his dog, and his parents leave the bustle of the city to visit the boy's grandparents. The illustrations carry the story perfectly, showing him staring at the family portraits in the living room, being almost overwhelmed by the wildness of nature right outside the window in one double-page spread, and then the boy and his dog venturing out into that wild, following a path through the trees to a lake, caught up in the beauty and serenity of it all. Not content to remain on dry land when there is water in which to swim, he dives into the water, swims about for awhile, and comes face to face with a fish. After basking in the sun for a bit, he and his dog return to the house and the safe confines of a fenced in yard, a dinner table where conversations are held, and then they head outside once more, leaning their heads back in order to behold all the stars that fill the heavens above them and perhaps the impossibility of measuring all that he has seen. Not a single word is needed--or missing--as the illustrations deftly capture the sense of wonder and amazement experienced by this youngster. For him, this trip has been transformative and eye-opening, and there is not a doubt in the world that he will be back.
February 8, 2023
The beautiful art in this book took my breath away. Sometimes pictures really are worth a thousand words. A young boy leaves the city with his parents to visit his grandparents in the countryside. While there he wanders down a path through the woods. He stops to admire the tall trees and listen to the sounds of the forest. At the end of the path he finds a lake. He takes a dive into the water and swims down to the bottom where he admires the plants and fish he finds. Based on an experience the author had one summer. While this may be Kim Jihyun's first picture book, I sincerely hope it isn't her last. The beautiful lines and the serene peace to be found in the illustrations makes this a true work of art. In fact, it reminds me of some of my own past experiences in nature and the beauty and wildness that can be found in such places. different perspectives readers are presented with are fascinating. Readers see the world from the boys eyes at some points, at other parts the boy and his environment are seen from above or below. I really can't do this book justice with words, all I can do is recommend you take a look at it yourself.
December 21, 2021
A child goes on a trip to the countryside, goes for a walk, finds a lake, goes for a swim in it, probably gets sunburn laying on the jetty, but gains a newfound wonder for looking up at the clearest of skies and the immense pleasure of nature, in this wordless piece. It was crafted exceedingly well, but I didn't find it really justified being silent. Instead it seemed to lack a little something that some well-chosen words might have given. Yes, the narrative is fully there in the expressive, detailed and compelling visuals – but a je ne sais quoi felt left out. Three and a half stars.
April 15, 2023
A wordless picture book of a curious city boy visiting grandparents at the country and exploring his new surroundings. I really didn't like he jumped in the lake with no one around him.
May 16, 2023
3,5/5 🌟
November 12, 2022
In this oversized (9.25 x 12.75 inches) wordless picture book, we see a young boy and his parents leave the city, drive through the country, and arrive at his grandparents' house in the country. While there, he and his dog spend a lot of time outside, observing the different types of trees in the woods, swimming in the lake and frolicking among the fish and plants at the bottom, and looking up at the stars at night after dinner with the family.
As a big fan of words, I personally struggle with wordless picture books, but they are a great springboard for all kinds of conversations. Children, even middle schoolers, can use them to scaffold their own stories, describe what is happening in the pictures, and even to infer what might occur in the story each time they turn the page.
Good Points
Jihyun's illustrations are very beautiful, and the sense of serenity in the natural world is very powerful. Done entirely with writing ink, this means that the illustrations are in black and white. The detail is exquisite, from the leaves on the trees to the family photographs hanging in the grandparents' living room. The boy's facial expressions as he is introduced to his new environment also serve as a springboard for discussions on not only what is happening, but what emotions are being shown.
There have been a lot of wonderful picture books dealing with the natural world lately, such as Kooser's Marshmallow Clouds, Sanchez' Hello, Puddle, Lentino's Littlest Acorn, Giuliani's At the Sea, and Hopkinson's Only One. This is more of an emotional exploration of the feeling of being in the woods and away from the hustle and bustle of city life and would be a beautiful and calming way to end the day with a young child, discussing the adventures of the little boy and looking into the details of his surroundings.
As a big fan of words, I personally struggle with wordless picture books, but they are a great springboard for all kinds of conversations. Children, even middle schoolers, can use them to scaffold their own stories, describe what is happening in the pictures, and even to infer what might occur in the story each time they turn the page.
Good Points
Jihyun's illustrations are very beautiful, and the sense of serenity in the natural world is very powerful. Done entirely with writing ink, this means that the illustrations are in black and white. The detail is exquisite, from the leaves on the trees to the family photographs hanging in the grandparents' living room. The boy's facial expressions as he is introduced to his new environment also serve as a springboard for discussions on not only what is happening, but what emotions are being shown.
There have been a lot of wonderful picture books dealing with the natural world lately, such as Kooser's Marshmallow Clouds, Sanchez' Hello, Puddle, Lentino's Littlest Acorn, Giuliani's At the Sea, and Hopkinson's Only One. This is more of an emotional exploration of the feeling of being in the woods and away from the hustle and bustle of city life and would be a beautiful and calming way to end the day with a young child, discussing the adventures of the little boy and looking into the details of his surroundings.
January 30, 2024
One of my best friends has the same name as the author (though she distinguishes herself from all the other Ji-Hyuns by changing the spelling), so of course I had to check this one out from the library, even though there is zero relationship between said friend and said author. Turns out this is a wordless book, so I'm reluctant to say I read it, especially since I think I've spent maybe five minutes on it. Illustrated in writing ink, I'm going to call this a hybrid of picture book and coffee table book. In length, it's definitely a picture book. In content, it feels much more "coffee table book" to me - while there are blue tones and warm tones and even a hint of green tones, I'd describe the art as grayscale, and the detail has the potential for hours of attention, but I think a lot of people will glance through without really seeing it. Not conducive to reading over FaceTime to my sister's littles.
Also, while I'm glad this kid's parents clearly taught him to swim/got him swim lessons in the big city, I'm rather uncomfortable with the swimming-alone bit. Don't do that. While many dogs are freaking brilliant and can totally tell when you need help, they have teeth instead of thumbs and this one didn't appear to have a floatation device and its training is unknown. So don't let dogs be your lifeguards. Unless you've solved all the problems and trained said dogs. This has been your friendly neighborhood PSA.
Also, while I'm glad this kid's parents clearly taught him to swim/got him swim lessons in the big city, I'm rather uncomfortable with the swimming-alone bit. Don't do that. While many dogs are freaking brilliant and can totally tell when you need help, they have teeth instead of thumbs and this one didn't appear to have a floatation device and its training is unknown. So don't let dogs be your lifeguards. Unless you've solved all the problems and trained said dogs. This has been your friendly neighborhood PSA.
August 20, 2025
This has been on my TBR shelf much too long.
A young boy, his dog and parents leave their apartment in the city for a visit to grandparents in their remote home in the country. The boy is immersed in nature as he wanders into the nearby woods and discovers its beauty, a lake and experiences its wonders below, and returns to the house where he stares up into the night sky and is astounded at its sheer enormity.
Jihyun's debut book, the wordless oversized picture book deserves all the accolades it has received, including numerous Best of 2022 booklists. The illustrations, rendered in writing ink with a slow-dry blending medium, is luminous. It is the dream-like quality of this story set to these stunning illustrations that just takes your breath away. There is an "everyman" quality to its storyline about the wonders and beauty found at every turn in nature.
This would be very useful to help young listeners learn new vocabulary as the adult describes the action, thus telling the story. This would make a superb writing exercise for K-2 kids - having them look at the images, then retell the story in their own words. Or to just kick back and enjoy the ride on a beautiful summer day....
Highly Recommended for PreSchool-grade 3.
A young boy, his dog and parents leave their apartment in the city for a visit to grandparents in their remote home in the country. The boy is immersed in nature as he wanders into the nearby woods and discovers its beauty, a lake and experiences its wonders below, and returns to the house where he stares up into the night sky and is astounded at its sheer enormity.
Jihyun's debut book, the wordless oversized picture book deserves all the accolades it has received, including numerous Best of 2022 booklists. The illustrations, rendered in writing ink with a slow-dry blending medium, is luminous. It is the dream-like quality of this story set to these stunning illustrations that just takes your breath away. There is an "everyman" quality to its storyline about the wonders and beauty found at every turn in nature.
This would be very useful to help young listeners learn new vocabulary as the adult describes the action, thus telling the story. This would make a superb writing exercise for K-2 kids - having them look at the images, then retell the story in their own words. Or to just kick back and enjoy the ride on a beautiful summer day....
Highly Recommended for PreSchool-grade 3.
June 4, 2022
A boy visits his family in the country, and follows a path through the trees. He discovers a lake and swims in the clear water. He soaks up the sun from the boat dock, and finally goes back home to have a happy supper with his family.
There are no words in this book. No text. Just beautiful black and white art work that says everything. This is such an emotional book. The illustrations are so simple, yet powerful to bring up strong feelings. Peace and adventure and comfort and warmth. The curiosity of what could be around the next bend in the path, behind the next tree. The bright sunlight sifting through the cool of the water. I can almost hear the birds in the forest. This book is poetry.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
There are no words in this book. No text. Just beautiful black and white art work that says everything. This is such an emotional book. The illustrations are so simple, yet powerful to bring up strong feelings. Peace and adventure and comfort and warmth. The curiosity of what could be around the next bend in the path, behind the next tree. The bright sunlight sifting through the cool of the water. I can almost hear the birds in the forest. This book is poetry.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
December 28, 2024
A beautifully illustrated wordless picture book about a young boy who travels with his parents from the city to stay with his grandparents in the countryside. He walks through the trees, swims in the lake and stars at the sky - both in daylight and with the stars. It is a wordless story about the wonders of nature and how nature can rejuvenate the spirit. My favourite pictures were the close up of the boy's face underwater as he looks at a fish looking back at him, and the picture of the boy and his dog both looking up at the stars with a wash of starlight over them. My four year old liked both of those but also pointed out the one of the boy swimming with the fish and splashing into the water as favourites.
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April 10, 2022A serene and entrancing wordless picture book celebrating time spent in nature. It's a pretty simple story -- a boy who lives in the city visits his grandparents home, and with his dog enjoys the simplicity of time spent amongst the trees, in the lake, and basking in the sunshine. I think this is evocative of the best kind of childhood summers; though, there is no focus on any kind of togetherness or shared connection. It's mainly about the solitude.
Enjoyable and a nice celebration of the tranquility nature can offer.
**Note: I was given a review copy of this book via Publisher's Spotlight. Opinions are my own.
Enjoyable and a nice celebration of the tranquility nature can offer.
**Note: I was given a review copy of this book via Publisher's Spotlight. Opinions are my own.
July 1, 2022
A simple but meaningful wordless story of a young city boy visiting the countryside with his family during the summer. Looking out a window, he spies an enticing path into the forest, and he and his dog set out to explore. After admiring the flora, he takes a dip in a lake, drying off afterward on a warm, flat rock in the sun. Evening brings an amazing view of the night sky, free from the light pollution found in the city. The quiet wonders of nature are the highlight here, as detailed in a short author's note at the end. As a city kid, I really felt the boy's delight in the world around him. The soft artwork adds to the serenity of the story.
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