- Overview
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This picture book lights up the heart of its readers and makes them share their worries.
- Book Intro
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One night, snow falls heavily. The little mole starts to walk, deep in worry. The thought absorbs him so strongly that he doesn’t realize snow piles up on his head. Just then, the little mole remembers what his grandmother told him: “When you are worried, roll a snowball.” And he starts to roll one.
What he worries about is that he has no friends. A worry about friends may be something everybody has had at least once. Soon, the snowball becomes uncontrollably large. The growing snowball visually shows the growing worry in his head. The little mole is too focused on rolling the snowball to discover the other animals in front of him. He fails to observe, listen to, or smell things. This situation makes readers be reminded of their experience in which they fail to pay attention to the neighborhood while brooding over their worries. The snowball engulfs one by one the frog, rabbit, fox, boar, and bear but the little mole has no inkling of what’s going on. From the inside of the snowball, the sound comes: “Help! Help!” The little mole listens to the sound with his ear to the snowball. He goes into the snowball and meets each snow-covered animal with some body parts hanging outside the snowball. They together make their way inside the snowball and rescue other friends. Listening to their story, the little mole learns that they were also looking for friends. It is as if his worry was not his alone. Compassion is a sure way to win another’s heart.
After everyone is rescued, the friends gather at one place for the first time and share their daily lives. Finally, the little mole and his friends are outside of the snowball. The morning sun just rises from the horizon. The warm sunshine will slowly melt the snowball. The melting snowball under the sunshine shows that the worry is totally gone. It could be the end of the story, but the little mole and his friends are rolling the snowball again. Now, they have a new, happy concern about “What should we do together for fun?” as common friends do. And they build a large snowman with the snowballs they have made.
- About the Author
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Kim Sangkeun
Same as Author
- Selection
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Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea, 2015, Recommended Book