tag Children
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I’ll Give You Flowers
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I’ll Give You Flowers, a picture book by Kang Gyeongsu, an author who freely moves among picture books, comic books, and children’s stories, has been published. Intriguing is the tense dialogue between a ladybug caught in a spider web and a bear that wonders whether or not to rescue the insect. Depending on which of the characters’ perspectives—the spider, lady beetle, and bear—readers adopt, this volume will convey an entirely different theme. Unique are the work’s structure based on repetition-climax-reversal and cinematic visual construction.
A ladybug is caught in a spider web!
A tense relationship among a spider, a ladybug, and a bear
“Bear, could you rescue me from this spider web?”
“If I rescued you, the spider would have no food, right?”
One morning, a ladybug is caught in a spider web. The insect must somehow free itself from the cobweb before the spider comes. At that moment, a huge bear happens to pass by. Will the beast rescue the bug? I’ll Give You Flowers is a tale consisting of a dialogue between the lady beetle trapped in the spider web and the bear, which wonders whether or not to rescue the insect. Tense indeed is the relationship among the characters: the spider, which must feed on its prey; the ladybug, which must live; and the bear, which does not wish to be involved in the two bugs’ situation. Depending which of the characters’ perspectives readers adopt, this book will convey a completely different theme.
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Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Picture book
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The Strange Train
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This volume is the first original picture book by Han Ah Reum, a budding author. Sensitive pencil drawings create fantastic space and story, thus prompting readers to realize the charms of a picture book without text. Han depicts through detailed portrayal and gripping construction the diverse feelings experienced by a child as he travels alone on a train headed for his grandmother’s home. Readers will be regaled with the thrilling joy of decreasing tension as they follow the youngster’s journey as he passes through each car of a train where reality and fantasy intermingle.
The joy of looking at a picture book without text
This work uses solely drawings to depict changes in the child’s mind that are difficult to describe in writing. While the interior of the train, the setting of the tale, is portrayed in a repeated pattern, changes in the space as the protagonist proceeds from one car to another are vividly conveyed through modifications in the scenery outside the windows and the movements of the curtains. This work creates a dynamic flow through the train, which runs from the left side of the book to the right, and the child and presents a visual pleasure with its bold scene transitions and gripping construction. Images presented through painstakingly executed pencil lines such as feathers floating in the air and richly shaded shadows turn the train into a fascinating space where reality and fantasy mingle. The Strange Train is a picture book that Han created based on the motif of the old story ‘Little Red Riding Hood‘.
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Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Picture book
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Pepe’s Fabulous Pictures
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This volume is the first picture book by “Ae Shoong,” a cartoonist and a noted illustrator. A baby elephant fond of painting, Pepe seeks out the spot closest to the sun out of a desire to depict the sunrays of early summer and makes repeated efforts until it can portray beautiful bird songs to its satisfaction. This lovely picture book not only vividly conveys the joy of doing something one likes but also sensitively shows the diverse emotions experienced by youngsters such as the earnestness of wanting to do something well and diligently, frustration felt when things do not turn out the way according to wishes, and pride in what they have accomplished. As such, the tale cheers for and encourages children who enjoy and try activities even if they are not adept. Pepe, a lovable character
Although an elephant’s “hand” is a bit stubby for holding a brush, Pepe nevertheless opens the sketchbook every day. At times it feels like crying because pictures do not turn out as envisioned, the little animal closes its eyes and thinks calmly: “How come I can’t make paintings the way I see them in my mind?” “Am I thinking too hard?” To the baby elephant, what is more important is to produce paintings that it finds satisfying rather than to receive favorable evaluations from others. In dreams, Pepe paints scarlet volcanoes, huge whales, and majestic mountains to its heart’s content. Though it can depict anything effortlessly, once awake, the little beast finds its artistic skills unchanged from the day before. Nevertheless, it joyfully says, “I like painting” without becoming dejected. Thus affirming itself as it is, the baby elephant is a lovable character.
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Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Picture book
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Would You Like to Establish a Goblin Phone Connection?
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The latest smartphone and goblins from traditional Korean tales meet!
The protagonist, Song Ji-u discovers an odd smartphone in the school library one day. It turns out to be a smartphone used by dokkaebi, or legendary Korean goblins! The place he travels to after receiving a call from a goblin in the middle of the night is a lair of these creatures, where all kinds of amazing things happen. However, it differs considerably from the space described in traditional Korean stories. Goblin children carry smartphones instead of goblins’ clubs. In using smartphones, they converse with one another through messengers and enjoy games by using shapeshifting with apps or creating virtual reality. These creatures use smartphones also when buying things or requesting courier services. Playing with his smartphone together with his gobbling friends, Ji-u experiences many amazing things. A problematic work captivating children who live with smartphones
Having come to possess a goblin phone, Ji-u visits the creatures’ den and plays there to his heart’s content every night. In the human world, he uses the goblin phone to finish his school homework quickly, to solve problems on workbooks readily, and to speak English fluently as well. The boy also uses shapeshifting to play pranks on his friends. Hooked on the goblin phone, he is unable to let go of the device even after learning that whenever he uses it, energy seeps out from his body so that he becomes weak. Thus unable to shake free from the temptation of the goblin phone, the hero strongly resembles children in reality. The author admits that smartphones have many advantages. He affirms that, by using these devices, we can communicate with diverse people and learn new science and technology. Based on such awareness, he guides Ji-u to find ways of living with smartphones on his own. Step by step, he shows the process through which the protagonist undergoes worries and conflicts at first and finds the correct way of using these devices in the end. As such, the author provides readers with a chance to look back at themselves instead of presenting a didactic or moralistic conclusion. Through Would You Like to Establish a Goblin Phone Connection? young readers will have opportunities to think on their own about ways of using smartphones.
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Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Fiction_Age 8-10
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Kneady the Eraser Crumb
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A friend even more special because it was made with my hands
Kneady the Eraser Crumb has all the strengths of a children’s tale for reader in the lower grades of primary school including the grippingly fast-paced development of the plot, unique characters, and a clear distinction between “good” and “evil” figures that is readily comprehensible to youngsters. Out of them, the setup that the protagonists are actually created by children with their hands would not have been possible if the author had been unable to have an insight into youngsters’ constant creativity and psychology during play, both of which allow them to focus on unceasingly creating new things. Although children’s literature has repeatedly and countlessly featured fantasy friends who comfort youngsters vexed by the demands of reality, the eraser crumbs in this work are refreshing in that they have been created by children with their hands, unlike existing dolls or animals. Children and adults who grow in step with one another
Kneady the Eraser Crumb is noteworthy for not only conveying empathy and comfort to youngsters but also portraying grownups’ growth. Although children’s stories commonly deal with youngsters’ growth, this work has an uncommon narrative where adults are prompted to grow through the actions of insignificant eraser residues. Wiping a twisted mindset clean, as if erasing wrongly written letters with an eraser, “Mr. Strict,” the teacher in this tale, vows to forge new relationships with his students. In being an adult who is able to reflect on his own thoughts and actions and mend them when necessary, he is a salutary figure. Just as the teacher in this work comes to repent his past and to understand children’s minds and hearts, it will be a meaningful experience for young readers outside the book to consider the thoughts and feelings of their own teachers, who hitherto may have seemed only fearsome and unapproachable.
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Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Fiction_Age 8-10
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ANIMALS TALK
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Learning about diverse signals exchanged by living beings “How do beings living in nature such as mountains, sea, and prairies talk to one another?”
Just as people communicate with one another through speech and behavior, other organisms that live in this world together with humans, too, engage in dialogue through various signals including smells, sounds, colors, gestures, and electricity. Thus exchanging signals, living beings protect their respective territories, mate, and forage for food. In other words, signals are very important means of communication for organisms living in nature. An intellectual picture book, Animals Talk allows readers to understand living beings’ “languages” and signal systems with ease by presenting the Organism Speech Interpreter, a machine devised by Oink-oink the master inventor. In order to find Mrs. Meow’s missing baby, the pig meets with diverse living beings and listens to their stories. Through this volume, youngsters will be able to learn about patterns on flowers that lure bees and butterflies, pheromones given off by ants, vibrations from moles that reverberate in caves, ripples created by water striders on the surface of water, sounds made underwater by fish, and meanings of signals hidden in birds’ chirping in a fascinating manner.
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Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Non-fiction
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THE SOUND OF A GUITAR IN AN EMPTY FACTORY
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The motif of this book is the story of laborers dismissed by Cort Guitars (Cortek), a South Korean musical instrument manufacturer, who have struggled for ten years to regain their work. Writer Jeon Jin-gyeong set up a studio on the site of the company’s factory in Bupyeong/Incheon as a form of squatting and spent time with the firm’s workers there for ten months, from April 2012 to February 2013. She has written and illustrated this volume on the basis of that experience.
The Sound of a Guitar in an Empty Factory is a work that prompts even youngsters to ponder on the meanings of terms including “layoffs,” “unemployment,” “reinstatement struggles,” and “labor unions.” The book is expected to serve as an occasion for children to realize that such can apply to our own families and neighbors instead of existing simply in the news and to tak interest in social problems.
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Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Picture book
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MUNGCHI AND MAN-DO
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A warm-hearted and delightful tale that cheers for animals’ and humans’ subsistence and lives Mr. Choe Man-do and his companion dog Mungchi are inseparable both at home and at his shop. Although the man thinks that he alone can communicate with the canine, his daughter A-yeong, too, seems to be able to connect with the animal. He unwillingly takes care of a family of pigeons that has nested on his rooftop due to A-yeong’s love of the birds. In addition, after being chased by a boar during a mountain hike with the family of his daughter’s friend, Man-do comes to ponder on the hardships faced by beasts that have been driven into a corner by humans. On the other hand, after turning into Mong-gu, a boy, Mungchi the dog appears at A-yeong’s school on a sports day and becomes a star. Man-do is happy because of Mungchi and his family.
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Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Fiction_Age 10-13
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RETRIEVE THE FORGOTTEN CODE: THE PRINCIPLES OF CODING IN A STORY
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Retrieve the Forgotten Code recounts what happens as In-o, a 12-year-old elementary school student, rescues Banya, an artificial intelligence robot, by chance and learns coding in order to retrieve the robot’s memory. In the process through which Banya’s mysterious identity is revealed after repeated reversals, readers naturally come to learn both the principles of coding and ways of creating computer programs on their own.
The programming languages featured in this book have been newly created by the author in order to facilitate youngsters’ understanding on the basis of actual languages that are widely used by programmers including C language, Java, and Python. Thanks to this language, which has been constructed in order to facilitate readers’ effective understanding of the basic concepts and principles of coding such as source codes, algorithms, and functions, readers will be able to analyze with ease the rules of any programming language they encounter in the future. Having worked for prestigious information technology (IT) companies for over ten years, the author made full use of his vivid experiences as a programmer in penning this book. The volume presents for each level questions that inevitably arise when one learns coding such as “What is common to thousands of programming languages?” “Which are good algorithms?” and “How can commands be given to computers more simply?” By resolving each of the situations presented by Banya together with In-o, readers will be rewarded with a sense of achievement in understanding the principles of coding on their own.
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Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Non-fiction
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MY SHADOW THE TOMBOY
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The protagonist, Sa-rang is a model student famous throughout her neighborhood. Tidy and precocious, she is praised everywhere she goes. However, the girl in fact is suffocated every day by the over one hundred rules devised by her mother and the tight schedule of shuttling from one afterschool private academy to another. One day, her shadow comes alive and starts to move on its own. In contrast to the well-behaved Sa-rang, Da-som, the shadow, is a tomboy who sings and dances as she pleases. Spending time with her shadow, the heroine engages in exciting activities hitherto unimagined including waking up early in the morning and dancing, making and giving chocolate cupcakes to her favorite friend, and skateboarding. In this work, through attractive personages and vivid incidents, writer Choe Yu-jin fascinatingly depicts the process through which Sa-rang, a model student, liberates herself from the framework of a “good girl” created by grownups and gradually finds her free and independent self. In the scene where the previously passive protagonist musters courage and shouts out her true feelings and thoughts, young readers will feel thrillingly liberated.
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Changbi Books_Children, Changbi Books_Children > Fiction_Age 6-8