accolades

It's the end of the year, which means list season. I'll probably be posting a series of my favorite songs of the year a little later on, just to get in on the action. (It's compulsory on the internets.) So far I've just been enjoying reading some of the praise, and I'm obsessive-compulsive enough to appreciate the act of listing for its own sake.

It was a fairly rare pleasure to see someone I know singled out for honor. A few months ago, an illustrated children's book by Suzy Lee was reviewed by The Times, and got a front-page thumbnail. The Wave, published by one of my favorite houses, Chronicle Books, has now been named one of the top ten children's picture books of the year.
This wordless book narrates the encounters of its young protagonist at the seashore, and does a wonderful job depicting the shifting emotional reactions of the little girl to the wildness of the ocean. Its exuberant illustrations are a combination of acrylic (the monochromatic waves) and lively charcoal drawings (the girl, the horizon, the seagulls). I'd place it up there with Harry by the Sea (Gene Zion/Margaret Bloy Graham) and Mrs. Armitage and the Big Wave (Quentin Blake) among my favorite seaside picture books.

I met Suzy at the Museum of Printing History, where she was studying stone lithography with Charles Criner, our artist-in-residence. She became one of the early members of the Book Arts Group I founded with a Museum bookbinder, though she was only with us for a few months before moving to Singapore. One of my sorrows about my experience at the MPH is that I was not able to buy a copy of the illustrated book, The Black Bird, which she printed on the lithographic press there -- though I understand that a reproduction is available from a press in Korea and France.
At any rate, the children and I recommend Suzy's book (in fact, they bought it for my birthday). Now I need to get my hands on her other U.S.-printed book, The Zoo.