빙산 

A beautiful, silent scream for our planet

This book is so subtle, so silent, that it even noticing the title takes time and attention: at first glance, it just looks like a blank, white cover. But upon further inspection, you can feel the word "빙산 " (which translates to "The iceberg") embossed, white on white, next to the outline of an iceberg, also embossed.

​

The book opens vertically. At first glance, the pages of the book look white, but as you discover the small, snowy white iceberg in the middle of the first page, you realize they are actually light beige. More icebergs emerge in the first spreads. The colors are subdued: the light beige of the page, the snowy white of the iceberg, the icy blue of the sea. The icebergs seem to be growing from the sea and flying in from the sky simultaneously, until the middle spread shows a world fully covered in ice. From there, shapes begin to form, and all kinds of winter animals emerge from the ice: Polar bears, snow rabbits, walruses, white owls, snow foxes... The animals are gorgeous, but as you leaf throught the pages, both they and the ice start to disappear.The second last page is icy blue, with a tiny iceberg left. The final spread is a blue box of Kleenex, with a single tissue sticking out like a small iceberg.

​

Oh Se-Na´s dreamlike and poetic illustrations describes the process of global warming and ice melting with beauty and subtlety. Unlike many books on environmentalism, there is no pointed finger or moralism to be found. The book quietly demonstrates the beauty and the richness of species we are about to loose in a way that makes the reader connect emotionally to the story, which of course speaks a lot louder than any raised voice might have done. The box of Kleenex at the end is a clever visual comparison to the iceberg, and can also be read as a comment to our consumerism, the consequences of all the little choices we take for comfort, like using that tissue you did not really need.

​

The color palette is stunning. The illustrations are barely there, and still so beautiful and fluent. Like the icebergs, each illustration seem to melt into the next in one, fluid motion. Inbetween the pages there is a scream, a loud advocacy for environmentalism, but it is so cleverly portrayed that it becomes a visual poem. "빙산 " is a beautiful and important book that can work with all ages.