Thank you very much for the great news. I am truly honoured to receive the 2020 Openbook awards. I am really grateful to meet the Taiwanese readers through my picture book WAVE.
This award means a lot to me. Seeing that WAVE is chosen for this precious category, I really feel that the picture books are universal. We all share common experiences in our childhood and we are all connected by the memories- and the picture book always brings us there.
WAVE also starts from the child's first encounter with the sea. WAVE is the wordless picture book of a little girl's day at the beach. The girl meets the sea, plays with waves, explores and becomes friends and shares the special gift from the waves. The book contains every emotion that children will feel in front of the new experience. In just two shades of watercolor, I tried to create a vibrant story full of joy and laughter. Also this book includes the idea about the border of fantasy and reality.
Below is the list of words the inspiration of WAVE comes from:
Dazzling cyan-colored sea/strong sunlight/a distinct shadow on the white sand/the busy seagulls/ the same sea wherever it is/the same children wherever they are/the same play with waves/the shoes already wet/a girl wearing a wet drooped dress/a smiling mom with a parasol/a day enjoyed until totally exhausted/an unexpected gift from the sea/beautiful seashells on a beach/the seashore where only the wave and I existed…
Those sparkling words and images becomes WAVE.
WAVE can be enjoyed on a couple of levels. On the one hand, there’s the surface level of it being about a day at the beach, and on the other, a deeper story of friendship.
The seagulls find the girl and her mom, and follow them into the first page of the book. The gulls appear on every page, responding to the girl’s feelings and action. The seagulls look somewhat indifferent in the beginning, and keep a certain distance from the girl the entire time. The seagulls and the girl get closer, but they never touch each other. The seagulls and the girl finally share a joyous moment in the water, and then the seagulls disappear into the scenery of the sea.
The wave doesn’t say anything but just has a good time with the girl. And then it brings the surprising gift from the far ocean. The girl leaves the sea, and the sea remains calm. This is a special kind of friendship. The girl and the wave meet briefly, but each leaves with a positive memory of the other.
Readers may find WAVE special because this picture book is wordless. When there are no words, sometimes you can see more. You cannot miss any visual clues and details in order to figure out a story. When there is no sound, you can hear better. You hear more vividly in a dream because it comes from your memory. I believe if you ever have been to the sea, you will hear the sound of waves from the pages of Wave.
Often a story comes to me in a visual form at first. And the story built by the series of pictures usually does not need to have any words added later on. Some stories are best told without words. Since there's no words, there are no rules to read WAVE-so be free to read in your own way. WAVE welcomes every unique interpretation of yours!
As a picture book artist, I like to play with the concept of what makes a book. In Wave, the use of the book’s gutter (the binding line in between the two pages of a book) acts as a dividing line between the girl's world and the wave’s world, and works as a border for reality and fantasy.
A book is a very interesting medium. Readers are taught to read a book in a certain way, reading from left to right and turning the pages to figure out the story. Yet most of us ignore the gutter of the book even though it clearly interrupts the whole spread. These unspoken agreements between authors and readers on how to read a book are the vital aspects to making a picture book.
When the girl decides to find out what’s happening on the other side of the page in Wave, she crosses the book’s gutter. She is absorbed into the physical center of the book and then emerges from it like Alice, when she comes out from the mirror in Through the Looking-Glass. The book’s gutter can also be a psychological line in the girl’s mind—a line we all encounter when in front of a wave—knowing that if you cross the line, you’ll get soaked!
So as you see, WAVE is a simple picture book, but there is a lot to find beneath the surface! I hope readers can find something new every time they open up the book. I would like to thank the Openbook award, and the LOCUS publishing to provide me this wonderful opportunity.
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▉評審推薦語
石牧民（決選評審，台師大台文系兼任助理教授）
Suzy Lee繪圖、原著的《海浪》是一本可說千言萬語的無字書。乍看即可感受到小女孩與海浪共舞、嬉遊的童趣。再加深思，更可發現作者運用女孩、海鷗、海浪這三個躍動的角色，構建了一個逐浪嬉戲，首尾連貫，具有發展與轉折的敘事。而一旦加上書本、書頁等物質性、空間性的思維，則《海浪》更是一個混用故事、圖像、排版的作品，思索的是「畫面」本身在繪本閱讀活動中所扮演的角色。
即使沒有文字，本書仍然營造出極具思辨性的內容。它更是一本極適合親子共讀，以及第一線為兒童說故事工作者取材的繪本。本書的畫面和編排本身，即已提供說故事者與聽故事的孩子之間對話或問答的可能性。作為一本無字書，卻反過來預留了無限的詮釋、探問、猜想、反駁的空間。沒有文字，卻無處不是語言的契機。
更有甚者，《海浪》不僅是一部著重趣味性的作品，實際上，在包夾著敘事本身的書籍扉頁，還暗藏著極富深意的親子關係。讀者一旦發現這點，旋即會發現自己閱讀與照看的位置上，其實同時存在著故事中母親的角色。這無疑更加深刻化《海浪》一書思想上的豐富性，討論著遊玩，也討論著如何在一個照顧者的位置上「看」孩子遊玩，「讓」孩子去玩。
我們以極喜悅的心情，欣見本書終於被譯介到台灣的童書出版市場。●
【延伸閱讀】
▇作者得獎感言
翻譯／黃筱茵
非常感謝您們捎來這麼棒的消息。榮獲 2020 Openbook 好書獎，對我來說真是無上的榮幸。能藉由我的圖畫書作品《海浪》與臺灣讀者朋友們相遇，我真的非常感激。
這個獎對我意義非凡。《海浪》被選為這個珍貴類別的年度好書，真的讓我覺得圖畫書具有跨越國界的普世價值。我們的童年都分享了共同的經驗，都由記憶聯繫著——而圖畫書永遠都能帶領我們回到那裡。
《海浪》同樣源自一個孩子第一次與大海相遇的經驗——這一本無字圖畫書描繪一個小女孩在海灘度過的一天。女孩遇見大海、跟海浪一塊兒玩耍、一同冒險，和海浪成為朋友，同時分享了海浪特別的禮物。這本書涵括了孩子在面對嶄新的經驗時，產生的各種情感。 我只用了兩種色調的水彩，試圖創造出一個充滿動感、滿是喜悅與歡樂的故事。 這本書同時也包含了關於幻想與現實界線的議題。
我在底下列出《海浪》的各種靈感來源：
令人目眩神迷的青色大海∕強烈的陽光∕白沙上一道清晰的陰影∕忙碌的海鷗∕不論在哪裡都一樣的大海∕不論在哪裡都一樣的孩子們∕每個人都跟海浪玩這一模一樣的遊戲∕已經弄濕的鞋∕穿著溼答答垂下來的洋裝的女孩∕帶著傘、微笑的媽媽∕開心的一天，直到完全累癱為止∕大海贈與的意想不到的禮物∕海灘上的美麗貝殼∕只有海浪和我存在的海邊…
那些閃閃發光的話語與意象變成了《海浪》。
你可以從幾種不同的層次欣賞《海浪》這本書。 就一方面來說，它表面的層次描摹的是海灘上的一天；就另一方面來說，它更深層的內涵是在描繪一個關於友誼的故事。
海鷗們發現女孩和她媽媽，於是尾隨她們進入這本書的第一頁。海鷗們出現在每一頁，對女孩的感受與行動做出回應。牠們一開始看起來有點漠不關心，對女孩始終保持一段距離。後來海鷗和女孩靠近了一些，可是並沒有碰到彼此。最後，海鷗和女孩終於一起在水裡共度了一段歡欣的時光，接著牠們就消失在大海的景致裡。
海浪什麼話也沒有說，只是和女孩玩得很開心。接著，它從遙遠的大海帶來令人驚奇的禮物。女孩離開了大海，大海恢復了平靜。這是一種特別的友誼。女孩與海浪短暫的相遇，可是已經在彼此心中留下深刻的記憶。
讀者們可能會因為《海浪》沒有任何文字而覺得它很獨特。其實，在沒有文字的時候，有時候你可以看到更多。為了弄清楚故事的意涵，你不會錯過任何視覺線索與細節，正如同沒有聲音時你會聽得更加清晰。在夢中，你會聽見更栩栩如生的聲音，因為聲音來自你的記憶。我相信如果你曾經到過海邊，就會聽見來自《海浪》書頁間的海浪聲。
對我來說，故事的起始通常是以視覺的形式出現。由一系列的圖像建構的故事通常並不需要任何後來再添加上去的文字。有些故事最好用沒有文字的方式訴說。既然沒有文字，在閱讀《海浪》時也沒有任何規則——所以自由自在的用你自己的方式閱讀吧。《海浪》歡迎你任何獨一無二的詮釋！
身為圖畫書藝術家，我很喜歡拿怎樣能成為一本書的概念來遊戲。在《海浪》裡，書的「中線」〈一本書兩頁之間的裝訂線〉被用來分隔女孩的世界與海浪的世界，因此也代表現實與幻想間的界線。
書本是非常有趣的媒介。讀者們向來被教導用特定方式閱讀一本書，比如從左到右，還有翻頁找出故事的意涵等。我們大部分人會忽略書的中線，儘管它很明顯的打斷了跨頁的完整性。這些作者與讀者間未曾明說的默契〈關於該如何閱讀一本書〉，是製作圖畫書時至關重要的考量面向。
在《海浪》一書裡，當女孩決定找出書頁的另一側發生了什麼事時，她越過了書的中線。就像愛麗絲在《鏡中奇遇》這則故事裡從鏡子裡走出來，女孩被吸進書本實體的中心，然後又再出現。這本書的中線也可以當作女孩心裡的某條心理界線——在置身於一道海浪面前時，我們每個人都會遭遇的界線——我們知道如果你跨越那條線，就會全身濕透！
所以，如你所見，《海浪》是一本簡單的圖畫書，可是在表面底下還有許多有待發現的內涵！我希望讀者們每次翻開這本書都能發現一些新的什麼。我要感謝 Openbook 好書獎，還有大塊文化，謝謝你們給了我這個美好的機會！
謝謝大家！！！
Thank you very much for the great news. I am truly honoured to receive the 2020 Openbook awards. I am really grateful to meet the Taiwanese readers through my picture book WAVE.
This award means a lot to me. Seeing that WAVE is chosen for this precious category, I really feel that the picture books are universal. We all share common experiences in our childhood and we are all connected by the memories- and the picture book always brings us there.
WAVE also starts from the child's first encounter with the sea. WAVE is the wordless picture book of a little girl's day at the beach. The girl meets the sea, plays with waves, explores and becomes friends and shares the special gift from the waves. The book contains every emotion that children will feel in front of the new experience. In just two shades of watercolor, I tried to create a vibrant story full of joy and laughter. Also this book includes the idea about the border of fantasy and reality.
Below is the list of words the inspiration of WAVE comes from:
Dazzling cyan-colored sea/strong sunlight/a distinct shadow on the white sand/the busy seagulls/ the same sea wherever it is/the same children wherever they are/the same play with waves/the shoes already wet/a girl wearing a wet drooped dress/a smiling mom with a parasol/a day enjoyed until totally exhausted/an unexpected gift from the sea/beautiful seashells on a beach/the seashore where only the wave and I existed…
Those sparkling words and images becomes WAVE.
WAVE can be enjoyed on a couple of levels. On the one hand, there’s the surface level of it being about a day at the beach, and on the other, a deeper story of friendship.
The seagulls find the girl and her mom, and follow them into the first page of the book. The gulls appear on every page, responding to the girl’s feelings and action. The seagulls look somewhat indifferent in the beginning, and keep a certain distance from the girl the entire time. The seagulls and the girl get closer, but they never touch each other. The seagulls and the girl finally share a joyous moment in the water, and then the seagulls disappear into the scenery of the sea.
The wave doesn’t say anything but just has a good time with the girl. And then it brings the surprising gift from the far ocean. The girl leaves the sea, and the sea remains calm. This is a special kind of friendship. The girl and the wave meet briefly, but each leaves with a positive memory of the other.
Readers may find WAVE special because this picture book is wordless. When there are no words, sometimes you can see more. You cannot miss any visual clues and details in order to figure out a story. When there is no sound, you can hear better. You hear more vividly in a dream because it comes from your memory. I believe if you ever have been to the sea, you will hear the sound of waves from the pages of Wave.
Often a story comes to me in a visual form at first. And the story built by the series of pictures usually does not need to have any words added later on. Some stories are best told without words. Since there's no words, there are no rules to read WAVE-so be free to read in your own way. WAVE welcomes every unique interpretation of yours!
As a picture book artist, I like to play with the concept of what makes a book. In Wave, the use of the book’s gutter (the binding line in between the two pages of a book) acts as a dividing line between the girl's world and the wave’s world, and works as a border for reality and fantasy.
A book is a very interesting medium. Readers are taught to read a book in a certain way, reading from left to right and turning the pages to figure out the story. Yet most of us ignore the gutter of the book even though it clearly interrupts the whole spread. These unspoken agreements between authors and readers on how to read a book are the vital aspects to making a picture book.
When the girl decides to find out what’s happening on the other side of the page in Wave, she crosses the book’s gutter. She is absorbed into the physical center of the book and then emerges from it like Alice, when she comes out from the mirror in Through the Looking-Glass. The book’s gutter can also be a psychological line in the girl’s mind—a line we all encounter when in front of a wave—knowing that if you cross the line, you’ll get soaked!
So as you see, WAVE is a simple picture book, but there is a lot to find beneath the surface! I hope readers can find something new every time they open up the book. I would like to thank the Openbook award, and the LOCUS publishing to provide me this wonderful opportunity.
THANK YOU!!!
▇獲獎作家：蘇西・李（Suzy Lee）
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