{"id":5229,"date":"2020-11-15T00:01:18","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T06:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5229"},"modified":"2020-11-14T17:11:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-14T23:11:17","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-717-featuring-seou-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=5229","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #717: Featuring Seou Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nLet’s take a look at a picture book debut, shall we? Seou Lee<\/a><\/strong> is an author and animator, and thanks to Arthur Levine’s new imprint, Levine Querido, we get to see her try her hand at picture books. Bye, Penguin!<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (October, 2020), orginally published in Korea, is a (nearly) wordless adventure \u2014 a penguin’s inadvertent (but very thrilling) one. <\/p>\n

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“Snick!” The ice floe upon which a small penguin stands breaks, sending the penguin off into the water. Sailing away, unwittingly, from his penguin cohorts\u2014in one particular spread, Lee uses abundant white space to great effect to show us the poor creature’s isolation\u2014the penguin wipes away a tear. But it turns out that the penguin, floating across the world on this sheet of ice, has the chance to see some truly wonderful things \u2014 a glowing green aurora of lights; the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil; the Sydney Opera House; the Statue of Liberty; and much more. Delights in nature and delights made at the hands of humans: These are the things the penguin takes in (with big<\/em> eyes) on this unexpected yet incredible journey. <\/p>\n

But ice melts. Oh, no. But! Fear not. The penguin has a clever solution for getting back home, which I won’t ruin for you. <\/p>\n

Lee makes smart choices about composition and space here. She also plays with perspectives: In more than one spread, we get an aerial view of things, which emphasizes the smallness of our protagonist. Her palette is spare, making the aurora spread all the more outstanding. We also see rich ocean blues; the green of Lady Liberty; and pops of red at the book’s close. The penguin is particularly expressive; Lee pulls off a lot with his eyes and body language \u2014 she communicates a great deal of emotion with simple digital lines. <\/p>\n

And if, like me, you really<\/em> miss travel during this pandemic, well … this one makes for a good, if slightly bittersweet, read. <\/p>\n

Here are a few spreads so that the art can do the talking. …
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(Click spread to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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(Click spread to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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(Click spread to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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(Click cover to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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\nBYE, PENGUIN! Text and illustrations copyright \u00a9 2020 Seou Lee. Originally published in Korea by BookGoodCome. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Levine Querido.<\/em> <\/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’s Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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1)<\/strong><\/font> Biden and Kamala! <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> Getting past a loooong<\/em> work week … <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> … and learning new things, while doing so. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> Madison Cunningham’s<\/a><\/strong> new EP, including this cover:
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