- Overview
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This is a picture book that tells a story about expectations, the anxiety of standing on the stage we call the world, and helping hands.
- Book Intro
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What two-year-old children need when they take their first steps and what nine-year-old children need when they start riding their first bicycles; what we look for between this word and that word, between this thought and that thought, and between two people when we wonder whether we ought to put more sugar or salt in bread dough; what has been barely attained and can be easily lost: Balance.
This book tells a story of balance.
Here comes a child walking wearing a cone-shaped hat and holding a long stick. The child barely keeps his balance on a round apparatus. Although you may want to talk to the child for a moment, restrain yourself. Concentration is important. The child is practicing to later step up onto a great stage. Sitting in the auditorium, you can finally see when the curtain is drawn back. The child has completed the stage walking on a tightrope by keeping in step with the others!
Everyone keeps their balance among the ceaseless swaying. That is always difficult and sometimes frightening, even though we have all practiced and experienced it. However, like the hands holding the back of the bicycle when we first learn how to ride, we have what is called helping hands. Balance tells a story about expectations, the anxiety of standing on the stage we call the world, and helping hands. A child focusing on keeping balance with his entire body has something to say above the pyramid that was created with the balance achieved by each member.
"When you fall over and flop down by a small jagged stone or are at a loss for what to do in front of a large wall, muster up courage and take one more step forward. Don't worry! Although you may stumble or sway, you will be able to take that next step forward because we are all together."
The writer builds an image of a large pyramid that starts from simple figures such as a circle, a triangle, and a square in the same way as dots, lines, and planes gather to complete a large painting. For the theme of balance, the writer explores compositions and colors and spends a large amount of time deciding when to control and where to gather together for richness and to structure spaces and emptiness. Readers may sometimes feel tense and other times give sighs of relief as they watch the child performing in a circus in their quiet seats. The child resembles us.
- About the Author
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Yoo Junjae
Yoo Junjae (M), studied Fiber Arts at Hongik University. He wrote and illustrated picture books including My Ball, In Mom's Dream, Balance and The Blue Wave and illustrated children's stories including The King of Boys, My Little Brother Is on Mars, The Can School and The Boy Protecting Atomics Earth, as well as the children's poem collection Cold Goose. For his work Animal Farm, Yoo won an award at the 15th NOMA Concours in 2007, and he was selected as the Illustrator of the Year at the Bologna Children's Book Fair for The Blue Wave in 2015.
- Selection
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Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea, 2016, Excellent Publication Content