Pool

Starred review from March 9, 2015
In this wordless debut, Korean artist Lee combines imaginative power and emotional restraint. With a murmur of shaded pencil, she draws a boy in a bathing cap and goggles standing alone beside a public pool. Swimmers arrive suddenly and crowd the water—some are all but indistinguishable from the blubbery inflatable toys they carry—taking up every available bit of space. Diving beneath them, the boy heads straight down. Now, Lee draws the boy and the world he discovers in full color. A girl his age swims toward him, and together they play and explore, swimming among schools of wildly improbable fish of scarlet and blue, fish with snouts like snorkels and fins like ferns. They play hide-and-seek among the sea vents, encounter more threatening fish, and then, deeper still, find themselves eye-to-enormous-eye with a placid, whalelike behemoth. When the two surface and exit the pool, they exchange a shy, intimate glance, silent testimony to all they’ve shared. It’s perhaps the quietest, least remarkable-seeming people, Lee suggests, who see what’s below the surface of the ordinary world. An auspicious and memorable debut. Ages 3–5.

March 15, 2015
Two children with phenomenal lung capacity have an astonishing adventure in the neighborhood pool. A slim child clad in bathing cap, goggles, and trunks stands poolside; the water is smooth, blue, and empty. Then a throng of grotesque, mostly obese adults with inner tubes and rubber rafts descends, choking the pool's surface. The child enters the water anyway, diving below the paddling feet of the crowd, and is joined by another slender, capped, goggled child, this one sporting a skirted tank suit. Down the pair swim, past strange, birdlike fish to clusters of brightly colored tube worms. An uncluttered double-page spread suspends the two in an empty blue expanse; a turn of the page finds them eye to eye with a gentle, furred white whale. Readers will notice that Lee's palette takes on increasing vibrancy as the children explore; the first child's trunks, gray at the surface, are now bright blue, and the second child's suit is scarlet. The children retain their brilliant hues upon ascending and exiting, while the splashing crowd is still rendered in shades of gray. The message is wordless but clear: don't stay safely on the surface but dive deep to find friendship and wonder. While the contrast between the slender explorers and the fat intruders is unfortunate, Lee's control of palette and pacing makes this Korean import otherwise a delight. (Picture book. 4-8)

Starred review from May 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 2-This unique and elegant wordless adventure follows a timid boy's foray into a crowded public pool. Due to the crash of humanity cramming the water with their comical bulk and myriad of blow-up gear, the goggled hero dives deep and discovers a female counterpart, who leads him to a forest of fantastic aquatic creatures and plants. Some fish are friendly enough to pat; others embrace the children into their school. A group of fiercer-looking fish flee, allowing the humans to enjoy a white whale's visit. The tamer underwater inhabitants lead the children back to the surface for their return to the deck. Lee's artistic choices are brilliant. The rowdy crowd is depicted in black, white, and gray line drawings and contrasts with the joyful aquatic world in colored pencils and pastels. The large format and the artist's generous use of solid space greatly expand the journey's vistas. VERDICT Lee's debut picture book is a swan dive.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA

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