VOL.94/2026.05

The Harmony of Comforting Words and Images

Middle School Teacher’s Pick

2025.11.03

It is easy to think of a picture book as nothing more than words visualized in illustrations, but in fact, words and illustrations interact and create meanings. Of course, one can understand them separately, and the messages they deliver together can be interpreted in many different ways. That is why, if either the words or the illustrations are not read properly, the full meaning of a picture book cannot be grasped.
Ko Jeong-Soon’s Keep Your Guard Up is a picture book that most exquisitely captures this interaction between words and illustrations. The text tells the story of climbing a mountain. At first, the protagonist thinks the climb will be easy, but it gradually becomes harder and brings moments of wanting to give up. However, the character continues the ascent without surrender. The illustrations, on the other hand, depict a boxing match. The protagonist’s fists in red gloves miss their opponent, while the opponent’s punches keep landing. The once-confident figure disappears, replaced by scenes of stumbling, falling, and rising again. Even as sweat pours down like rain and the strength drains from his legs, the protagonist lifts his guard once more, ready to fight again.
As such, while the text speaks of climbing a mountain and the illustrations of a boxing match, the two come together as one, naturally prompting us to reflect on our own lives. We see ourselves in the figure who falters before countless hardships at the start of something new. Just as the protagonist refuses to give up on either the climb or the fight, Keep Your Guard Up gives us the courage to rise again, even when life feels overwhelming.

A story comes to each reader differently, shaped by personal experience and emotion. And, picture books, in particular, carry an added resonance through their illustrations. A few years ago, when both my body and mind got weary, I went to my hometown, Jeju, and stayed in a caf? overlooking the sea. Watching the gentle waves calmed me. And not long after, I read The Waves Come to Me again. The first time reading it left me unmoved, but on that second reading, it touched me deeply.
The book tells the story of an exhausted and troubled protagonist who sets out for the sea with no plan. The sea, encountered without preparation, greets the protagonist warmly and offers comfort, saying, “Oh, you came.” Looking at the sea, the protagonist finds solace for the heart. For me, the sea of Jeju is a place of rest, though I cannot always go there; whenever that is the case, opening this book brings me the same peace, as if I were looking at the Jeju sea itself.
Another charm of this picture book lies in its use of the physical qualities of a “book” itself. Beyond words and illustrations, picture books communicate meaning through their format, texture, and shape. The Waves Come to Me is long and horizontal, designed to be read by turning the pages upward, so that the form itself conveys the motion of the waves. For anyone exhausted and in need of rest, turning the pages of The Waves Come to Me will bring a sense of solace.

Written by Kim Jun-Ho (middle school teacher, head of the Picture Book Teachers’ Community)