Korean graphic designer and illustrator Park Sun-jung makes her picture book debut with Snowfall, a (nearly) wordless adventure showcasing white fluffy snowflakes that somersault, whirl, wriggle, and wobble through the night skies into the wee hours. Eventually, gravity helps them softly touch down to blanket a city with a shimmering layer of icy white.
Park's opening spread cleverly introduces the scene from above, revealing a colorfully lit outline of roads and highways not unlike those in Seoul, where the Han River curves through Korea's dense capital. Cloud-like, roly-poly white puffs gently tumble toward the city below. All are anthropomorphized with stubby arms, short legs, and expressive eyes, each rotund body carrying the distinct mark of a multipronged snowflake. They're clearly enjoying their every-which-way descent, rolling, twirling, reaching, and relaxing as buildings, trees, parks, and bright streetlamps come into focus. The icy-white floofs take every opportunity to entertain themselves until they're ready to settle down as exhausted singles, pairs, and clusters, creating a beautifully calm, freshly covered snowy new daybreak.
Park produces her inviting spreads with mixed media (acrylic paints, pastels, and digital) and works mostly with a palette of white and ever-deepening blues, interrupted only by the warm glow of urban lights. She imbues joyfully energetic movement onto each unique snowflake as it lightly, weightlessly journeys down from the heavens. Snowfall's buoyant result is an immersive, interactive opportunity for even the youngest readers to independently, cozily delight in an enveloping snowfall... without the need to bundle up and brave arctic temperatures. --Terry Hong