This volume is the first original picture book by painter Yun Bo-won. In fact, it is based on the author’s memory of her daughter playing with a traditional Korean wrapping cloth (bojagi) brought by her grandmother at the age of four or five. With a single wrapping cloth, the youngster in this work plays an exciting game all day long. In her imagination, a cheap and common wrapping cloth becomes the longest dress in the world, a carpet that sails across the sky, and a ship unshaken by high waves. Vividly and humorously portrayed is the variegated world of imagination that unfolds in the child’s mind. Ending with the protagonist falling asleep in a snug blanket after a thrilling adventure, the story will provide young readers with joy and satisfaction. Revealed in this work is the author’s warm perspective that play and the imagination are the power behind children’s growth.
Transformation into a dress, wings, and a carpet!
An exciting imaginative game played with a wrapping cloth
The child unfurls and holds up the pink wrapping cloth that Granny has brought. What games will she play with it? The wrapping cloth turns into a gently wagging tail when placed on the buttocks, the longest dress in the world when tied around the waist, a big bag that can hold everything when tied into a loop and slung over the shoulder, and an exciting picnic mat to be sat on together with friends when spread on the floor. Though only a sheet of cheap and ordinary wrapping cloth, it is an incomparably outstanding toy that can turn into anything according to the child’s wish in her imagination.
that can turn into anything according to the child’s wish in her imagination.
Depicting a child’s thrilling game of imagination, The Pink Wrapping Cloth is the first original picture book by the author, who has created endearing and unique illustrations. It is based on the painter’s memory of her daughter actually playing with a wrapping cloth at the age of four or five. As familiar objects and situations change in a myriad ways and proceed, the story will win the hearts of youngsters who enjoy imaginative games in everyday life. A composition that clearly and simply shows objects and circumstances without long explanations, too, will be readily accessible to children around the protagonist’s age.
With a single wrapping cloth, the youngster in this volume excitedly plays all day long. Beginning with small and dainty objects such as a tail, wings, a dress, and a floor mat, her imagination gradually increases as both space and time expand. The wrapping cloth turns into a large and dashing horse and rushes across the sky, a nest that enfolded dinosaur eggs several hundred million years ago and embraces a baby dinosaur, and a carpet that sails across the sky and traverses a vast desert as well. In addition, it becomes a sturdy ship when crossing a rough sea and a high-speed sleigh when passing through forest amidst a snowstorm. Readers will feel the vivacious energy typical of children in the protagonist’s excited play as she travels across a forest, a desert, the sea, a rainstorm, and a blizzard. In the last scene, where the girl finally returns home and falls asleep under the wrapping cloth, which has now turned into the coziest blanket in the world, will present young readers with a sense of both satisfaction and stability.
A warm perspective that celebrates the power of play and the imagination
For young readers’ ready comprehension, The Pink Wrapping Cloth presents and repeats simply constructed scenes. In each scene, realistically depicted on the left side is a child playing with a wrapping cloth at home and on the right side is the youngster’s inner landscape. While the actual world is tersely portrayed only with lines, without any color, the world of imagination is expressed in gorgeous colors in an exaggerated and humorous manner so as to contrast with reality. Vividly stressing the world that unfolds in the child’s mind, such composition reflects the author’s belief that youngsters grow through play and the imagination.