{"id":4716,"date":"2018-09-16T00:01:24","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T06:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4716"},"modified":"2018-09-18T10:29:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T16:29:00","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-604-featuring-jihyeon-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4716","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #604: Featuring JiHyeon Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
 

\nAre you all up for some magical doors this morning? Who isn’t<\/em> up for a magical door, right? <\/p>\n

If you read and enjoyed JiHyeon Lee’s<\/a><\/strong> Pool<\/em> (which I blogged about here<\/a><\/strong> in 2015), you may be happy to know she has a new book, also wordless, coming to shelves next month, called Door<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (Chronicle Books). It’s the story of a boy who finds a key, walks through a door, and encounters a fantastical world of creatures alien, but friendly, to him. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Just as she did with Pool<\/em>, Lee brings readers a palette that blooms in color as the story progresses. When the book opens, we see the boy walking in a world devoid of color; in fact, the people he passes appear without joy and even slightly suspicious. The boy follows a brightly colored, bizarre-looking flying insect, the very creature that had directed him to the key on the ground on the book’s opening endpages. The insect flies to the door the boy will enter. It is cobwebbed. Clearly, it hasn’t been opened in a long time. <\/p>\n

As he walks through this world \u2014 filled with color, unlike his own world was \u2014 more color progressively comes to the boy and his clothing as well. And a smile comes to his face. This is a world of finely drawn anthropomorphized creatures, many of them red, furry, and with long snouts. Their language, depicted via speech balloons, is composed of squiggly lines. (Wannabe linguists will have fun with this one.) At one point, the boy follows his new friends to a field filled with multiple doors, which lead to all kinds of new landscapes. Out of one door comes a wedding party. The boy joins them to watch the ceremony. A feast follows. (How I love picture book feasts.) When one creature returns the boy’s key to him, he knows it’s soon time to leave \u2014 but not before joining a big, happy group photo. <\/p>\n

Lee’s delicate drawings of this richly imagined world are beguiling. You can see some below. Just as she did in Pool<\/em>, she reminds readers of the delights of the creative imagination and its endless possibilities \u2014 only if you keep an open mind, that is, and are willing to walk through such doors.
\n
 

\n<\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n

(Click either image to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
\n
 

\n<\/a>
\n
(Click image to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
\n
 

\n<\/a>
\n
(Click image to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
\n
 

\nDOOR. Copyright \u00a9 2017, 2018 by JiHyeon Lee. Originally published in South Korea in 2017 by Iyagikot Publishing Co. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Chronicle Books, San Francisco.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * *<\/center><\/p>\n

Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.<\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
<\/center><\/p>\n

1)<\/strong><\/font> I enjoyed helping to spread the word<\/a><\/strong> this past week about the Kidlitwomen* iniative. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> Reading Sharon Creech’s<\/a><\/strong> Winslow<\/em> aloud to my girls.
\n
 

\n
\n
 

\n3)<\/strong><\/font> Contributions from really talented writers. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> The 2018 National Book Award longlist in the category of Young People’s Literature was announced this week. (You can see it here<\/a><\/strong>, if you scroll down a bit. Of course, I want to read all the other books in all the other categories too.) <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> An animated adaptation of Hilda<\/a><\/em><\/strong> premieres this Friday. I’ve been waiting a while for this one.
\n
 

\n