India
Ammachi's Glasses
By Priya Kurian
Ammachi’s Glasses. Priya Kurian. Tulika Books, 2017. ISBN 9789350469088. 28 p. (Ages 0 and up). Picture book.
A fun and humorous story set in Kerala, about Ammachi, a grandmother who searches for her lost glasses, is told through colorful and captivating illustrations. Would pair with Vacation by Blexbolex and Ammama’s Sari by Niveditha Subramaniam. The author is based in Bengaluru, India, and is a comic book writer, illustrator, and animation filmmaker. Shortlisted for the 2017 Publishing Next Award, Children’s Book of the Year. Ammachi’s Glasses is inspired by the author’s childhood memories with her grandmother in Kerala. Watch a reading interpretation of Ammachi's Glasses. [mi]
Korea
The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky
By Kim Jihyun
The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky. Kim Jihyun. Floris Books, 2021. First published in South Korea as Last Summer by Woongjin Thinkbig Co. Ltd, Seoul, in 2017. First published in English by Floris Books, Edinburgh in 2021, and in the US in 2022. ISBN 9781782507420. 48 p. (Ages 4-7). Picture book.
The first picture book by illustrator Kim Jihyun, it has been named among the best books of 2022 by The Boston Globe, New York Public Library, The Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal. A wordless book, it recounts a city boy’s trip to his grandparents’ home in the countryside. The boy embarks on a walk into the woods alone with his dog, and the illustrations evoke palpable wonder and delight in nature. Inspired by her own trip to a lakeside town, Kim says she wanted to share the “serene feeling” she experienced being immersed in nature. [dj]
Pool
By Lee JiHyeon
Pool. Lee JiHyeon. Chronicle Books, 2015. Originally published in Korean by Iyagikot Publishing Co, in South Korea, in 2013. ISBN 9781452142944. 56p. (Ages 3-5). Picture book.
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Pool is a wordless story of two shy children who meet in a crowded pool and the strange and beautiful things they see—and imagine—together. It is Lee’s debut title which she created while still a student at Korea’s Hankuk Illustration School. [dj]
Wave
By Suzy Lee,
Wave. Suzy Lee. Chronicle Books, 2008. Originally published in Korean. ISBN 9780811859240. 44p. (Ages 1-99). Picture book.
Multiple award-winning Suzy Lee was Korea’s first winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2022. Best known for her wordless books, Wave is a wordless story of a little girl who goes with her mother to play on the beach. Designed in alternating black and white and color pages (in which the girl is in black and white, and the ocean in vibrant blue), it captures the alternating delight and fear of the little girl as the waves ebb and surge. She ends up soaked by a tremendous wave, but finds delight in the sea stars and shells it leaves behind. [dj]