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JooHee Yoon’s Beastly Verse (Plus a Sneak Peek …)

h1 May 26th, 2015 by jules



(Click each image to enlarge)


 

I’ve got artwork below today from illustrator and printmaker JooHee Yoon’s first picture book here in the U.S., Beastly Verse, published by Enchanted Lion Books last month. Does anyone else remember when JooHee visited 7-Imp back in 2011 to share some art? It’s exciting to see this book now.

This is a collection of animal poems, many from poets long-gone (Ogden Nash, Hilaire Belloc, Christina Rosetti), with gatefold surprises and Yoon’s distinctive and stylized art, so vivid in its palette that the spreads pop off the page. (You’ll see this below.) Daisy Fried wrote in the New York Times that “[k]ids appreciate the bizarre and off-kilter, and are too often denied it when grown-ups edit for positive messages and sweetness. Hooray for Yoon for countering that.” I love that.

I can also (if you want really detailed reviews) direct you to Betsy Bird’s review of the book here, as well as the post at Brain Pickings (where credit is given to Claudia Zoe Bedrick, founder of Enchanted Lion Books, for being the poetry-lover she is).

Up above, at the very tip-top of this post, is a spread from JooHee’s rendering of James Thurber’s story “The Tiger Who Would Be King,” which Enchanted Lion will publish this September. It’s a sneak peek at that book today (and its cover), and I thank Claudia for that.

Here are some images from Beastly Verse. Enjoy!

 


— From “Three Young Rats” — without text (Anonymous)
(Click to enlarge)


 


— From “The Eel” by Ogden Nash
(Click to enlarge)


 


— From “The Friendly Hen” by Arthur Waugh
(Click to enlarge)


 


— From “The Happy Hyena” by Carolyn Wells
(Click to enlarge)


 


— From “The Pelican” by Robert Desnos
(Click to enlarge)


 



— From “Eletelephony” by Laura E. Richards
(Click each to enlarge)


 


— From “The Yak” (without text) by Hilaire Belloc
(Click to enlarge)


 


(Click to enlarge cover)


 

* * * * * * *

BEASTLY VERSE. Text and illustration copyright © 2015 by JooHee Yoon. First edition published in 2015 by Enchanted Lion Books, Brooklyn. All images here reproduced by permission of the publisher.

Images from THE TIGER WHO WOULD BE KING reproduced by permission of Enchanted Lion Books.





3 comments to “JooHee Yoon’s Beastly Verse (Plus a Sneak Peek …)”

  1. JooHee’s work is amazing, bright, and smart!

         by kelmurphy May 26th, 2015 at 10:06 am

  2. Just beautiful.

         by Chris Sheban May 26th, 2015 at 4:54 pm

  3. […] And she’s doing some incredible stuff with color and layering I really envy. I mean Beastly Verse? Sheesh. So gorgeous and vibrant and wonderful it […]

         by Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast » Blog Archive » Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Brianne Farley June 26th, 2016 at 7:35 pm

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