★New work by Lee Min Ae, Bologna Illustrator of the Year for two consecutive times, winner of the BIB Gold Award and the NM Silver Award!
★Recommended by Korean authoritative media Korea Times, Silla News, Chosun Daily, The Kukmin Daily etc.
★“Today’s Book” and “Editor-in-chief’s Choice” of Korea's largest bookstore Kyobo Book Centre.
★The bestseller of children’s book for ages 4-6 of YES24, a representative online bookstore in Korea.
★Recommended book for happy morning reading of 2022 in Korea.
★The moment you get rid of everyday exhaustion and become complete of yourself. A picture book about “vacation” without a word.

This is an illustrated book by Lee Myungae, who won the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (BIB) Golden Apple and Golden Plaque awards, and has also been designated as an Illustrator of the Year by the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
Vacation is an illustrated book that expresses diverse emotions related to vacation, such as excitement, apprehension, relaxation, and healing in a very persuasive way with only pictures.

This book will make readers reflect on what vacation signifies in life. The revitalizing energy gained from the previous vacation has long dissipated and you look forward to the next one every day. Even though you have been waiting for it with much anticipation, you are still tense after arriving at the site of your vacation. The author, Lee Myungae, delineates the different stages of a vacation where tension is slowly released from one’s body and mind to being finally becoming re-energized completely. The book shows what “vacation” means to us in life.

All of us look forward to a vacation.That is because although we have a different lifestyle and ways of enjoying leisure everyone recovers from a fatigued body and mind and gains new energy during the time away. But the arrival of an eagerly anticipated vacation does not warrant instant enjoyment of it.

The author, who has envisioned the color of one’s shadow as yellow since she was a child, depicts the narrative with the premise that the color yellow represents a state of abundant energy whereas the color blue expresses the depleted state of energy. The protagonist arrives at the vacation site in a “blue” state for having been sapped of all energy from a previous vacation and cannot let go of the tension. But she unexpectedly meets a companion and she is able to slowly refill herself with energy, not at a crowded beach but in a quiet and secretive place. Thisinternal transformation is disclosed through the protagonist’s complexion and shadow.

The book shows quite persuasively the strength and power of a vacation well-spent through only images and makes readers reflect on the meaning of “vacation” in their lives.

Lee Min Ae has been Bologna Illustrator of the Year for two consecutive times and won the BIB Gold Award and the NM Silver Award. She has written and painted Plastic Island, Ten Seconds, Tomorrow Is a Sunny Day and also made illustrations for Grandma Seal, Wonderful TV Shopping, Grandpa Booger etc.