31 Mar / The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky by Kim Jihyun [in Shelf Awareness]
More than a foot tall and nine inches wide, the exquisite The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky, by Korean author/illustrator Kim Jihyun, makes a magnificent first impression. The pages within showcase spectacular illustrations and, without a single word, gorgeously reveal a story of family, nature, and discovery. Two parents, their young son, and playful pup leave their city apartment for a car trip through country roads and rolling hills to where grandparents await.
While the adults are busy with warm greetings, the boy notices a winding trail just beyond the windows. With the pup following closely behind, he ventures into the nearby forest. Through the trees, boy and dog discover a small wooden dock on a wide-open lake. The boy dives in to discover a wondrous underwater world of swaying plants and curious fish. Back on land, boy and dog soak in the bright sun until it’s time to return to the house for a boisterous family meal. As darkness falls, the shimmering nighttime beckons boy and dog back out for a starry spectacle.
Kim’s art, in her debut book, proves both visually splendid and cleverly contextual. The car’s license plate, for example, is KIM702, perhaps summoning a personal trip, hinting at a July vacation jaunt. The grandparents, Kim suggests, are maternal: framed photographs on the living room wall depict family members, including a portrait of a little girl in a wide-brimmed bonnet. By day’s end, the pup might have a new friend, as a black cat approaches the window in which the canine perches and waits.
The illustrations are “entirely drawn and painted using writing ink and slow-dry blending medium.” Kim’s opening palette is predominantly black, white, and in-between greys, with just the merest suggestions of underlying blue. As the family transitions from city to country, the single color expands and intensifies. Every page turn brightens the scenery, as Kim deftly employs varying hues of blue to mirror the variations on the water’s surface or to capture the limitless expanse of uninterrupted, soporific skies. The concluding author’s note provides the book’s origin story: a summer stay “in a lakeside town in another country.” She dexterously transforms memories of what she calls “soft sunlight,” “gentle breeze,” “the deep lake,” “countless stars,” and night sky into a dazzling masterpiece.
Shelf Talker: The depth of the lake and the height of the sky are brilliantly captured in this wordless picture book masterpiece about a trip to the countryside.
Review: Shelf Awareness Pro, March 30, 2022
Readers: Children
Published: 2017 (Korea), 2022 (United States)