VOL.78/2025.01

 

#Tree

KPIPA Introduces K-Books for Global Publishing Markets through K-Book Platform

2024.05.07

 

Urban Tree Friends

1. Publication Details

 

Title | Urban Tree Friends
Author | Ko Gyu Hong, Choi Kyungsik
Publisher | DASANPH PUBLISHERS HOUSE
Publication Date | 2019-04-25
ISBN | 9788979381092
No. of pages | 32
Dimensions | 228 * 287

 

2. Book Intro

 

This book tells the story of the trees, flowers, and grass that live around an apartment complex in an urban city. The trees that appear in the book are ones that can be found anywhere in Korea. Turning your eyes and getting to know the trees around you is about communicating with nature. Just by watching the trees around us for four seasons, we can be awakened to the preciousness of life and nature. Additionally, the illustrations of the trees around us by Choe Gyeongsik, done with pencil and watercolors, lets us feel the warmth of the nature.
The author, Ko Gyu Hong, has lived in the city since he was a child and still lives in an apartment complex in the metropolitan area. He is a typical urban person. Just as busy as the other people of the city, on one busy day, he did discovered how many trees there were near where he lived. We have always gone far to see the tress, not realizing how many trees are around us. The author was amazed to know that the trees around him were protecting his everyday life. From that day, he looked at the trees of the city on his commute and began to listen to their story. So he raised his eyes and met the trees around us for a year, and decided to share the story with the children in a book.
The painter Choe Gyeongsik used watercolors to paint trees and flowers in order to preserve the colors of nature. While drawing them, he became acquainted with the trees of the city living in the forest of concrete apartments and learned their names. This is the reason why the paintings of Choe Gyeongsik, who silently listened to and depicted the trees of the city that silently guarded us, are so warm and sweet.

 

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There Was a Tree

1. Publication Details

 

Title | There Was a Tree
Author | Lee Sanghee, Kim Sunnam
Publisher | picturebookcity
Publication Date | 2014-10-17
ISBN | 9791195126699
No. of pages | 32
Dimensions | 230 * 280

 

2. Book Intro

 

There Was a Tree is a picture book with poems that talks about Korean firs, which are disappearing because of global warming. Korean firs grow only in Korean mountains. Korean firs have beautiful leaves like stars, and they can be found always staring at the stars. These trees are always thinking about stars day and night-even on snowy days. After a long while, Korean firs become trees that shine like green stars as they begin to form the forests in which they live.
This applies not only to Korean firs, however; all trees may indeed be thinking about stars and dreaming of becoming a shining star on the ground. This book describes a Korean fir that has long wanted to become a star on the ground. Its flowers blossom and its fruit grow while it stands against the rain, cold weather, and wind. The Korean fir sings songs while watching the stars at the silent dawn, and this image is vividly portrayed in this book’s illustrations. The thoughts and efforts of the tree are conveyed in the illustrations, which show the tree in all four seasons and how it grows.
We see a lot of plants going extinct due to global warming, the Increased pollution of fresh water, and the reckless development of golf courses. Plants also disappear due to not getting enough water. There Was a Tree sends this message along with the wish that all creatures co-exist in a beautiful and harmonious way.

 

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TREE, DANCING

1. Publication Details

 

Title | TREE, DANCING
Author | Bae Yoojung
Publisher | KINDERLAND/BANDAL
Publication Date | 2016-04-01
ISBN | 9788956187051
No. of pages | 76
Dimensions | 150 * 380

 

2. Book Intro

 

A 15-meter-long fantastic art picture book in a folding screen style! A humble tree stump, yet life sprouts from a world we cannot see!
The best cure for a disease is the universe breathing within me! Let’s go to the world that a stump shows us!
Tree, Dancing is a really tall picture book. Unlike typical books, its front cover is not connected to its back cover. What is the reason for this book design?
When you open the book, you can see green tree leaves and branches. Naturally, on the following page, you expect to see a big oak tree that can protect a whole village. However, on the next page, you actually see cut branches, falling. Then, on the next page, you see only some slashes on a white page baring the sentence “trees flow.” On the following page, finally, you see a shrunken, dry tree stump.
This book begins with the picture of the top part of a tree; a tree with green, shining leaves. Now, the leaves are gone, the branches are gone, and there remains only a stump, which is waiting for death. But the life of the tree does not end here. The tree’s life keeps flowing, breeding, blossoming, uniting with other lives, and finally it opens a new world of life.
A stump without a trunk, branches and leaves looks small and humble. But within the stump, there is a universe that can sprout numerous lives. If we fail to see the potential of small things, they will actually lose their potential.

 

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The hunchback gardener of the Joseon Dynasty

 

Title | The hunchback gardener of the Joseon Dynasty
Author | Chun Youngmi
Publisher | GOZKNOCK ENT
Publication Date | 2021-07-30
ISBN | 9791163161899
No. of pages | 372
Dimensions | 145 * 210

 

2. Book Intro

 

*Birth of a hunchback baby **
Heo Eun-su, born to the most prestigious family in Joseon, has only one flaw: his hunchback. His abnormal appearance has been ridiculed by his siblings and even by the servants. He is seen as a misfortune and treated as a nuisance who must not attend any of the family activities. Hurt by the contemptuous comments made by his schoolmates questioning the need to learn the teachings of sages while he himself was born with a useless body, he goes to his mother’s garden to take care of flowers and trees and finds comfort.
*First place in national exam and subsequent demotion to Sangrimwon **
He is startled when he receives a marriage proposal, but Choi Ah-yeong opens up his heart by saying she is glad to exchange vows with someone who has a sound mind. They become a happily married couple. Ah-yeong suggests that he take the national examination, and after careful consideration, he decides to take his chance and eventually wins the honor of passing the examination in first place. He builds a successful career, with the King having utmost faith in him, until an unexpected crisis hits him. After offering drinks to the ancestors as part of the spring ancestral rite at the Royal Shrine, he stumbles on the stairs and ruins the grand ceremony—an accident that has never happened before. He is later demoted to Sangrimwon, an office tasked with the management of the court garden, which was considered a menial job at the time.
*The eccentric king meets the game changers of Joseon!!**
The eccentric, curiosity-driven King always does things that no one has ever thought of before. All forms of entertainment take place in Gangnyeongjeon, his bedroom. Then out of nowhere, he begins to live in a cottage in an attempt to resolve famine, which turns the court upside down. He sleeps on a prickly haystack instead of silk bedding. That is when he discovers the three people who have the potential to aid him in building a new Joseon: the hunchback Heo Eun-su, the court doctor Jeon Seon-ui, and surprisingly, a female artist Choi Ah-yeong.
For some reason, he orders Eun-su to design a greenhouse that can grow food resources in winter. After successfully constructing the greenhouse, he announces his second big plan, which takes everyone by surprise!
*Grow a curvy pine tree **
The first secret order was to grow a curvy pine tree that would be able to save people from famine. Eun-su secretly works on it in Sangrimwon. Jealous of the King’s faith in Eun-su, other officials attempt to put the blame on him for damaging the royal tree, but Eun-su’s strongest supporter, the King, steps up and protects him. However, the attacks against Eun-su do not seem to die down, and the King feels worried that his order has caused Eun-su too much trouble. So, he pretends to side with the officials and sends Eun-su to Onyang as a punishment. There, Eun-su will be able to live a peaceful life, surrounded by trees and flowers.

 

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The Building Where Trees Grow

1. Publication Details

 

Title | The Building Where Trees Grow
Author | Yoon Kang-mi
Publisher | Changbi Publishers, Inc.
Publication Date | 2019-01-08
ISBN | 9788936455354
No. of pages | 40
Dimensions | 295 * 230

 

2. Book Intro

 

This book earned enormous love and interest from guests at an exhibition hosted by Hyundai Museum of Kid’s Books & Art, and was been selected for publishing support. The judges stated that the book reminded them of Gaudi, the architect, as it was very successful in building a “fantastic and solid alternative.” Through the picture of a girl living in an apartment in the city and imagining “her own house,” we can picture her changing a grey city into a green one. Through this book, readers have the opportunity to slowly reflect on the relationship between the nature and humans, and also the relationship between humans and architecture, while dreaming of a world where the nature and humans live together.

 

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The Time of a Tree

1. Publication Details

 

Title | The Time of a Tree
Author | Yi Hearan
Publisher | GomGom
Publication Date | 2021-06-10
ISBN | 9791196714727
No. of pages | 39
Dimensions | 215 * 278

 

2. Book Intro

 

A young tree that never attracted the attention of anyone finally settled in the yard of a remote house deep in the mountains.
The small young tree was not startled by the barking of a strange dog in the pitch-dark night and firmly took root while its branches shivered in the cold wind.
Even in the spring when the brilliant yellowish-green leaves sprouted, the summer when the typhoon tore at the entire mountain, the fall when the cluster of stars flowed like a river, and the winter when the mountain howled, the tree grew in its place bracing against the wind. After countless days with the moon waxing and waning, the tree soon grew to become the biggest tree in the yard.
“Where is the end of this road? What lies beyond that mountain? Who am I?”
The more the tree wondered, the further it reached out its branches and the deeper it took root.
The seasons came and passed dozens of times. The trunk grew thick, and the tree grew so much that the bark cracked, but the fruit on the branch tips was insignificant. One day, the tree hears something amazing from the wind.
“You are a tree that lives a thousand years.”
The Time of a Tree is a picture book that fully portrays the time of a tree that lives a thousand years. It shows the dynamic growth of a zelkova tree, which seems to be frozen in one spot. The tree quietly lives every day under the scorching sun and the soft moonlight with the earth, water, mountain, and wind. In the process, the tree feels the changing seasons, and bonds with all kinds of life that is born and that lives and dies next to the tree.

 

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A stick becomes a big tree

1. Publication Details

 

Title | A stick becomes a big tree
Author | Yeol-do Kim
Publisher | uldo nation
Publication Date | 2020-11-11
ISBN | 9788997372270
No. of pages | 128
Dimensions | 152 * 255

 

2. Book Intro

 

When I was a kid, my legs hurt and I blamed the world.
I was frustrated and cried at one time. However, I gained courage from writing and found a beautiful world.
The harder and sadder I was, the stronger I decided to be and lived without thinking about how others looked at me. Now, I feel rewarded and enjoy every day as a writer.
If you have a dream and can turn pain into pleasure, nothing is greater than that. I’m an old man now, but I’m still dreaming bigger dreams like a child.
This fairy tale is not just an old story.
It was based on the story of my childhood, but some of it is the background of the day. It’s mixed. This is called fusion.
This fairy tale has both experience and imagination. It would be fun to guess how far the experience goes and where the imagination goes.
Is there a child who has a hard time?
When you are having a hard time, read this book and gain courage.
I hope children who are frustrated and distressed will have a little hope.

 

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A Child Who Became a Tree

1. Publication Details

 

Title | A Child Who Became a Tree
Author | Nam You Ha
Publisher | SAKYEJUL PUBLISHING LTD.
Publication Date | 2021-02-26
ISBN | 9791160947106
No. of pages | 116
Dimensions | 153 * 225

 

2. Book Intro

 

This book contains six fantasy fairy tales that touch the furtive emotions we want to conceal. A kid who couldn’t bear the bullying and chose to become a tree in the center of the classroom, a kid who erases parts of oneself to become identical to others, thinks it’s natural that one’s family exists only for oneself, and decides to do anything to become one who is loved the most… The loneliness, insecurities, prejudices, and desperate desires hidden within kids’ hearts birth as an unusual fantasy through the author’s unique imagination and sensitive eyes. The author sometimes describes the wretched tragedy brought by discrimination and hate in a chilling way and sometimes presents surprisingly beautiful consolation.

 

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Grandpa and the Pine Tree

1. Publication Details

 

Title | Grandpa and the Pine Tree
Author | Lee MyeongHwan
Publisher | Gesunamu Publishing House
Publication Date | 2019-07-30
ISBN | 9791187914204
No. of pages | 48
Dimensions | 270 * 205

 

2. Book Intro

 

Grandfather pays a visit to Som’s house. As mom and dad are occupied with Grandfather’s visit, they do not listen to Som who keeps saying she wants to draw a pine tree. Som feels lonely and starts to draw a pine tree by herself. However, it is not easy to do alone. Som goes to her mom and dad to ask for a help, but her mom tells her to go to Grandfather. Som goes to Grandfather’s room and tells him that she wants to draw a pine tree. He skillfully draws a pine tree, and Som realizes that there is a great resemblance between her grandfather and the pine tree. She tells everyone in her family that the pine tree looks amazing because it looks like her grandfather.
This book explores the communication between different generations through a story between Som and her grandfather. In addition, the resemblance between the pine tree and the grandfather reveals the remarkability of old things.

 

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The Again and Again Tree

1. Publication Details

 

Title | The Again and Again Tree
Author | Yu Hajeong, An Hyorim
Publisher | DreamingKite Corp
Publication Date | 2019-05-15
ISBN | 9791187439943
No. of pages | 44
Dimensions | 289 * 204

 

2. Book Intro

 

The Again and Again Tree bears special fruit. It bears the fruit of disappointment when things do not go as we wish. The fruit has various shapes since the colors and shapes of children’s minds are different. Sometimes they are round, and sometimes they are thorny. It is uncomfortable to see the number of fruits increase. Still, the Again and Again Tree grows taller and taller despite our wishes that it would not. A child, who is hopelessly looking at the tree as usual, begins to climb it by stepping on the fruit of the tree. Finally, the child arrives at the top of the tree and sees the open sky!
Again and Again Tree is a picture book based on a children’s poem written by Yu Hajeong. An Hyorim illustrated the book. Yu’s simple poem and An’s heartwarming illustrations combine to present a refreshing experience, allowing the reader to re-read the original poem differently.
We try so hard to succeed and not to be disappointed, as if our goal in life is never to fail. Our children see and learn our attitudes. We always try to keep our kids from being emotionally and physically hurt. We keep them within safe fences, too. However, strong fences are damaged and broken before we even realize it. Nonetheless, our kids take roots deeply in the ground and bravely find themselves. They are stronger and healthier than their parents think.
Perhaps we all have some Again and Again Trees in the corner of our minds. We see the tree grow taller and taller with those frustrating Again and Again fruit of disappointment. Sometimes, they grow so big and spread wide that they even form a wood. The wood is an Again and Again Tree wood that keeps the story of our trial and error, and which bears the hard fruit of our resilience through our disappointments. How about you read this picture book with your child and find your own Again and Again Tree? You may hear comforting messages from the tree, which wishes to console you in times of exhaustion.

 

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