tag YA
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I’m Becoming Independent Now
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A record of psychiatrist Ha Jee-Hyun’s examinations of teens’ minds
A psychiatrist who is also active as a mental health expert for contemporary South Koreans through diverse books on psychology, Ha Jee-Hyun has published a work that explains and provides advice on the minds of the nation’s adolescents. The volume deals with the representative conflicts and concerns of all teenagers today, ranging from physical and mental changes that occur during adolescence to stress from studies, problems with friends, and anxiety about career paths. As such, it reflects the experiences and know-how that the author has accumulated after counseling countless parents and teens for more than 20 years. Ha offers unique prescriptions to adolescents, who experience confusion as they go through a period of storm and stress. Instead of presenting commonly found consolation and sympathy, he makes use of the latest knowledge in psychology and medicine to elucidate meticulously the identities of the turmoil and strife in teenagers’ minds. This is because one must know who oneself and the sources of the storms in one’s minds are in order to resolve conflicts independently and to move forward. How does it feel to be an adolescent? Being a teen is akin to boarding a “roller coaster of confusion and irritation, and good and bad moods.” Adolescence is the period during which one earnestly becomes independent from one’s parents and prepares to become an independent adult. However, because one has yet to be fully independent and is still in the process of becoming one’s own master, one’s physical and mental states change by year, with a variety of conflicts, perturbation, and frustration arising in the mean time. What should one do to ride this roller coaster safely? In I’m Becoming Independent Now, the author states that, above all, one must know oneself well. He says that, while counseling many teens as a physician, he felt the greatest pity when he witnessed incidents due to youths’ ignorance of themselves. The first key to the resolution of adolescents’ worries and problems lies in grasping oneself, one’s situation, and the changes that will befall one.
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Changbi Books > YA > Nonfiction, Changbi Books > YA
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Almonds
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Almonds will melt the cold in a society incapable of empathy
“A powerful novel that will awaken our capacity for pain and empathy”
Here before our eyes is an intriguing novel, more powerful than films and as gripping as television dramas. Recounting the special growth of a boy who is incapable of recognizing emotions, this engrossing work will pique readers’ curiosity from the first page to the last. In addition, as a novel that will have considerable reverberations in an age that has become insensitive to others’ feelings, it masterfully depicts the process through which the characters form relationships with others and empathize with others’ sadness. The dramatic events that unfold like movie scenes and the captivating style will mesmerize readers immediately. The protagonist of Almonds, Yunjae is a unique character who has difficulty recognizing emotions. Unable to read what lies behind others’ words and actions and to feel fear or anger in earnest, he has barely managed to live “ordinarily.” His mother also drills in him pointers for socially appropriate emotional responses such as laughing when others do so and saying, “Thank you” when others do him a favor. A child who sees and interprets everything literally and is scorned as a “monster,” Yunjae loses his entire family one day in a tragic accident and is left alone in this world. At the moment that he thinks he has lost everything, however, Yunjae encounters new personages in his life. They include: Goni, a child who is scarred by a dark past; Dora, a child who, in contrast, has an unblemished sensibility; and Dr. Sim, who wishes to help the protagonist. The story that unfolds between the hero and these characters will prompt readers to ponder once again on both the sheer difficulty and the invaluableness of understanding others’ feelings. Prose fiction writer Gong Seon-ok has evaluated this work as a “novel that gives hope to people like me, who believe, ‘The heart can rule over the mind’” and stated, “contemporary society may be suffering from a collective inability for emotional expression.” Living without time to mourn loss and to take care of their own emotions, readers will have an opportunity to look back on their hearts as they cheer for Yun-jae. The hero’s calm tone paradoxically is more heart-wrenching, and readers will be able to experience a deep and genuine emotional uplift through this work.
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Changbi Books > YA > Fiction, Changbi Books > YA
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The Liberators
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Set against the totalitarian state Renmak, where love and reproduction are strictly controlled, The Liberators is a gripping work that recounts the adventures and growth of two adolescents and the citizens’ struggles. Persuasively addressing the theme of “Is it permissible for governments to censor love?” the author unleashes the power of a dynamic narrative to his heart’s content. This powerful novel not only presents readers with the joy of reading with its captivating and speedy development and reversals but also prompts them to ponder on the true courage of the citizens who fight against social injustices.
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Changbi Books, Changbi Books_YA, Changbi Books > YA > Fiction, Changbi Books_YA > Fiction, Changbi Books > YA
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Ant Fairies in the Middle of the Night
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Painter Sin Seon-mi is evaluated in South Korean artistic circles as having accomplished the temporal expansion of traditional East Asian painting. Addressing the daily lives of contemporary women while using the techniques of traditional East Asian color painting, her work is known to portray intricately the games of graceful women and children dressed in hanbok, the traditional Korean costume, cats, and ant fairies that busily travel between dreams and reality in sophisticated colors and reflecting a wealth of stories in the canvas. Likewise, in this picture book, the artist places next to a mother and a child wearing hanbok and ant fairies a clinical thermometer, a bottle gourd, and a character pillow, thus creating a mysterious atmosphere that straddles tradition and contemporaneity. In addition, she boldly omits depictions of the background, thus calling readers’ attention to the characters, painted on subtly ochre-colored traditional Korean paper. The artist’s mysterious childhood experience of seeing fairies has become the starting point of her “ant fairy” series. That memory lay dormant in her mind for long, maturing as she became a mother, finally to be born as a picture book starring her son. The artist painstakingly recreated that tale of fairies miraculously encountered in the innocence of childhood on large sheets of traditional Korean paper measuring over one meter over two years, thus producing 25 beautiful traditional East Asian paintings. Thus completed, Ant Fairies in the Middle of the Night is one beautiful painting collection and picture book.
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Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books > Children, Changbi Books > Children > Picture book, Changbi Books_Children > Picture book
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Fifty People
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Despair and hope in the stories of 50 people
Jeong Se-rang’s sensitive and warm hand reaching out even to unseen individuals
In this volume, the stories of characters both inside and outside a university hospital near Seoul connected loosely or tightly unfold in a gripping and moving way. The hardships, sudden accidents, and worries faced by each individual in a novel consisting of 50 chapters are by no means unrelated to the issues faced by South Korean society today. With her unique sensitivity and warmth, Jeong Se-rang searches out for 50 protagonists and holds each of their hands. Through such touches, she dependably and trustworthily conveys the faith that the pain suffered by people now is not theirs alone and must be overcome together by society at large and that this is the only way to proceed to next generations without regret. The marvel of moments at which our gazes meet
As the story of Fifty People unfolds with a focus on a university hospital, the work features many of the characters who work at the institution. Through meticulous research and consultation, the author presents the tales not only of physicians and nurses but also of security guards, MRI technicians, patient transfer technicians, information personnel, promotion, employees, anatomical technicians, clinical test personnel, air ambulance technicians, public health doctors, pharmaceutical company salespeople, and hospital founders. Added to them are tales of patients who visit the emergency room, psychiatric department, and surgical department, thus rendering the work even more multifaceted and richer. The novel is tightly knit and well-structured, with its 50 characters related to one another as physicians, patients, patients’ families, and families’ friends. At the same time, even marvelous are moments at which completely unrelated figures face one another. In the end, we are perhaps already comforted by the countless people whom we simply pass by.
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Changbi Books > Adults, Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Adults, Changbi Books > Adults > Fiction, Changbi Books_Adults > Fiction
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Welcome to the Midnight Store
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Centering on the first-person narrator, an 18-year-old boy who works at a convenience store at night, this work realistically depicts life on the outskirts of a city and solidarity among neighbors, thus leaving deep reverberations. In this book, the author calmly unfolds the stories of both the protagonist and diverse characters who visit the shop. Revealing her keen observations of the vicissitudes of life and warm view of disadvantaged people, the novel demonstrates her fully mature literary capacity. In particular, with the time and space of a convenience store in the middle of the night creating a mysterious and lyrical atmosphere, the process through which lonely and needy characters care for one another and form solidarity is portrayed in a moving way.
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Changbi Books, Changbi Books_YA, Changbi Books > YA > Fiction, Changbi Books_YA > Fiction, Changbi Books > YA
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Graduated, Luckily
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What do the words “school days” recall? In South Korea, where people suffer from competition on college entry, diplomaism, and their aftereffects, it is very difficult for school days to be remembered solely as happy times. On the contrary, some say that they never wish to go back to the period, a few even having occasional nightmares about test taking to this day. Graduated, Luckily is a special book that, through the medium of prose fiction, prompts readers to look back at those years, when the goal was to graduate after doing nothing but breathe, so as to be unnoticed. The nine authors who have jointly penned Graduated, Luckily answered more frankly than anyone to the question of this project: “Were your school days lousy?” Here, based on their own experiences or research, talented artists capable of creating works in diverse genres including science fiction, fantasy, and story-writing each recount a tale from a particular year, from 2015 to 1990, that moved the heart. These authors closely capture the moments of anxiety and oppression experienced by ordinary students through their respective individuality and will bring to readers bitter smiles, keen pleasure, or touching tears.
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Changbi Books, Changbi Books > YA > Nonfiction, Changbi Books > YA
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The Messengers of the Wind
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In this volume, Bae Mi-ju reconstructs into three short stories figures and events from hundreds and thousands of years ago that are barely left in records. An artisan who created glass beads treasured by the king, Chinese soldiers of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) who found themselves as far west as Samarkand beyond the deserts, and an expedition that set out for the Western Regions (Serindia) at the orders of the Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD). Personages who disappeared into the mists history are reborn at the fingertip of the author, thanks to her boundless imagination, as unique protagonists who stand against fate. Crossing time and space from the western end of Central Asia to the Korean Peninsula, these tales are deftly interconnected and develop swiftly, not allowing readers to stray even for a moment. By vividly portraying the atmosphere and landscapes of antiquity, Bae transports readers to grasslands, deserts, and seas of yore. The artless style harbors profound messages on the most universal and human values such as dreams, freedom, friendship, and love, which will reverberate for a long time in readers’ hearts.
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Changbi Books > YA > Fiction, Changbi Books > YA
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What If You Met a Giraffe in Your Apartment Building?
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In this book targeting adolescents, veterinarian Choe Jong-uk, who has over 20 years of experience and is famous as one of the foremost wildlife veterinarians in South Korea, recounts diverse anecdotes about animals. In What If You Met a Giraffe in Your Apartment Building? (Changbi Young Adults’ Library Series No. 21), the author tells stories about the beasts that he has encountered in a variety of places including not only the zoo in Gwangju Uchi Park, where he currently works, but also ranches at Daegwallyeong, animal shelters, animal necropsy centers, and slaughterhouses. He presents a feast of secretive and intriguing tales about animals that only veterinarians can know, thus fully gratifying readers’ curiosity. While thus introducing to readers the lives of diverse beasts, Choe simultaneously raises issues related to animal welfare based on his deep love for humans’ fellow creatures. A seasoned veterinarian’s questions regarding topics such as abandoned dogs, road kill, carnivorism, endangered animals, and zoonoses and his unique solutions to them will reawaken readers to humans’ responsibility rightly to protect and love the many beasts that coexist on Earth including companion animals. -
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Changbi Books > YA > Nonfiction, Changbi Books > YA
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The Chandelier
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‘The Chandelier’ is the first short-stories collection written by Kim Ryeo-ryeong, author of bestseller ‘Wandeuk’ and ‘Elegant Lies.’ The title of this volume, “The Chandelier,” reflects the meaning that, like a radially shaped chandelier where many bulbs together emit light, the variegated light of life gathers to form a single world. This collection includes seven stories that sparkle with disparate colors. While presenting adolescents as the central figures, these tales also star diverse supporting actors such as the youths’ families and friends, thus distinctly depicting the reality of our age. Added to all of this are Kim Ryeo-ryeong’s delightful verbal skill and ingenious narratives, which have established her as a unique storyteller and are even maturer than before. The first work in this collection, “Icicles” is a unique story consisting only of the characters’ dialogues. Through the depiction of teenage boys fooling around in an Internet café, it lightheartedly satirizes society’s skewed perspective and older generations’ prejudices toward these youths. While playing an online game together, the boys learn of a murder incident on the news and indulge in wild flights of fancy: “What if there’s a criminal but no criminal tool?” Thus bandying silly talk, the youths come to be accused as the culprits for these very jokes. There is total mayhem at the police station as the boys protest, their parents clamor, and even the youths’ teachers complain of the hardships of their jobs. Will they be able to leave the police station safely? Withholding explanations on the identities of the speakers and consisting solely of dialogues among numerous personages, this outstanding tale is noteworthy for its fast pace and formal experimentation. “Acquaintance” sharply depicting sexual violence toward female students leaves a weighty aftertaste. The protagonist’s unyielding will after facing up to what she has gone through has a resonance. Furthermore, the author’s capability of penetrating our daily lives with an eagle eye flourishes in ‘Dumplings’ that describes animatedly the livelihood of marketplace and ‘A Blue Kid’ that portrays a boy’s shining summer day.
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Changbi Books > YA > Fiction, Changbi Books > YA