The Editor says: At some point, Taiwan's coastline became blocked by wave-dissipating blocks, severing the bond between islanders and the sea. Sea turtles seeking to come ashore and lay eggs could no longer find their way back to the beaches of their youth — islanders couldn't get down to the sea, and sea turtles couldn't get back up to shore, and so, little by little, sea turtles faded from our collective memory. Thankfully, ShuoYi spent four years studying sea turtle ecology and, with a gifted hand, created one evocative painting after another, weaving together the entire life of a sea turtle through cinematic storytelling techniques. If you've ever swum alongside a sea turtle, you know just how irresistibly adorable they are — which makes this beautifully accessible picture book, The Life of a Sea Turtle, an absolute must-read!
The Life of a Sea Turtle captures every stage of a sea turtle's journey through delicate, expressive brushwork
The Life of a Sea Turtle
Before diving into this ocean picture book — four years in the making — the Editor would like to share one of the author's quiet little touches: pay attention to the size relationship between the sea turtles and the sargassum seaweed throughout the book. Through this simple device, the author conveys how the turtle gradually grows larger over time. As you turn each page, visual elements carry over and connect one spread to the next, giving the entire reading experience the feeling of watching a film.
ShuoYi studied industrial and commercial design in university. Finding the precision-heavy world of industrial design not quite to his taste, he gravitated toward commercial design instead. An animal lover from childhood, he discovered sea turtle volunteer work during his student years — and that was the turning point in his life. He laughs recalling that he used to be extremely reserved, the kind of person who could sit in a classroom and go completely unnoticed. But becoming a sea turtle volunteer changed that: he began actively seeking out information on sea turtles, discussing their ecology with others, and even traveled to a sea turtle research station on Yakushima, Japan, to volunteer. Perhaps it was this journey that gave ShuoYi his unwavering, passionate dedication to sea turtles.
Author ShuoYi's enthusiasm for sea turtles knows no bounds
The four years spent creating this picture book coincide exactly with the time ShuoYi served as a guest art teacher at an elementary school on Hujing Island, Penghu. Why would ShuoYi volunteer for a school with fewer than 15 students in total? It all traces back to a three-day, two-night sea turtle ecology camp he attended on Wang'an Island during university — an experience that left him smitten with Penghu's simple, unhurried way of life. The opportunity to observe sea turtles up close was another major draw (Taiwan's confirmed sea turtle nesting sites include Wang'an Island in Penghu, Xiaoliuqiu, and Orchid Island, among others). And so he chose to spend four years living in this archipelago county, and it was there that he completed this remarkable picture book. In total, he spent two months on Wang'an Island and four years on Hujing Island — and has now gone so far as to transfer his household registration to Penghu, where he plans to continue as a dedicated chronicler of ocean picture books!
ShuoYi traveled to Japan to work as a sea turtle volunteer and is well acquainted with the Loggerhead Turtle — a species less commonly seen by people in Taiwan
If you think this is simply a picture book, you're vastly underestimating the care the author has poured into it. This is, in fact, a popular-science ecological reference on sea turtles. Within its pages, you'll learn about the hatching process of baby sea turtles, the relationships between sea turtles and other animals in the natural world (including, of course, predators), the challenges sea turtles face when they encounter humans, and even the fine details of how to distinguish between a sea turtle's tracks going up the beach and those coming back down after nesting. Reading the picture book on its own may not come with the author's narration, but if you look closely at the many thoughtful details woven throughout, you'll find that by the time you finish, you've gained a thorough understanding of sea turtle ecology.
Through cinematic visual storytelling, the author vividly expresses the full arc of a sea turtle's life
The Life of a Sea Turtle is actually one installment in ShuoYi's series of works. His graduate-school hand-drawn piece, Return to the Island (歸島), tells the story of the relationship between sea turtle volunteers and the turtles themselves — specifically, how the moment a sea turtle completes her nesting mission is also the moment the volunteer must leave the island. It is a complete record of his time as a sea turtle volunteer. True to form, that book contains foreshadowing that leads into The Life of a Sea Turtle, and The Life of a Sea Turtle in turn plants its own seeds for what may come next. Here's hoping we'll see many more of ShuoYi's works about the ocean and sea turtles in the future. ShuoYi has entered this picture book in the 2019 Bologna Children's Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition in Italy, with the hope of carrying the dream of Taiwan's ocean out to the world!
If you love ShuoYi's artistic style and can't get enough of those adorable sea turtles, reach out to 海龜海龜-ShuoYi for more information!
Related links:
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