Vacation by Blexbolex
VACATION by Blexbolex
Published in America by Enchanted Lion Books
Purchased from Barnes & Noble
Reading a book by Blexbolex is an unforgettable experience, and I am grateful to Enchanted Lion books for bringing his books (and many other phenomenal books from around the world) to our shores. In 2013, I reviewed Ballad, a gorgeous little book that is an ever changing journey. Slightly larger in trim size, VACATION is every bit as magically wondrous. A wordless journey through the real and imagined, Blexbolex uses his unique palette, graphic novel-like insets and panels within each two page spread and a comic book-Lichtenstein-esque dot screen style that makes the sometimes fuzzy illustrations appear as if they are printed on newsprint.
The illustrations are transportive and Blexbolex's wordless story further deepens the experience. At the story's start, we see a girl playing outside, a long, blue ribbon escaping her grip, carried off by the wind. She tries to follow it but is called home by her grandfather. They are late to pick up a guest from the train station!
Having spent much of the summer entertaining herself, the girl is not happy to have her solitude interrupted. And she is not nice to the little elephant, who eventually is driven away by the girl. Grandfather heads out into the night and a storm, bringing their guest back home with him, the tension still thick. A village festival where all the revelers are wearing animal masks seems to heal things between the two, and that night the girl dreams of meeting a boy on a train and sharing adventures with him. When she wakes in the morning, the elephant has gone and she has not said goodbye. Walking out into the fields nearby, she sees her blue ribbon in the branches of a tree. Just as she is retrieving her ribbon, the train speeds by, the elephant waving a trunk out the window. Or is it a boy?
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