Taiwanese author/illustrator Jimmy Liao's exquisite Our Starry, Starry Night is both picture book and graphic novel and tells a stirring story of two lonely children who briefly find a deep connection. This spectacular English edition, originally published in Taiwan in 2009, is translated by Ian Tseng.
A child, often shown in a red dress and blue shoes, lived with mountain-dwelling grandparents until the age of six. Now back in the city with their parents, the child "really" misses Grandpa (alone "up on that mountain") and Grandma ("who lives up in heaven"). The house is "so very quiet," and going to school doesn't alleviate the loneliness. One night, the child notices that the old lady next door has a new tenant, an "unfamiliar boy" who sings on the snowy roof. The children become inseparable and decide to leave the city in search of peaceful calm. They share an enchanting journey all the way to Grandpa's cabin, which still rings of "the happiest laughter." The return home, alas, includes sickness and separation but eventually engenders healing surprises.
Liao's meticulously detailed pages feature fully saturated colors and magical images; gifts, for example, grow huge, as if needing to fill up empty, looming spaces. Mythical beasts come and go: a red dragon fumes with anger, and a pair of deer flies by. The child even interacts with famous art pieces (with canvasses by René Magritte and Vincent van Gogh brilliantly adapted by Liao) that include their own chimerical flourishes. Liao (Turn Left, Turn Right) magnificently bestows upon his characters and readers moments of wondrous beauty and utter joy in Our Starry, Starry Night. --Terry Hong