People who consume more and faster,
I think about the boxes we throw away once we use them and the many things they contain.

In our busy modern society, we consume countless things every day.
Thanks to the advancement of the internet environment, we live in a world where we can order what we need with one click and have it delivered within a day.
Consumption is becoming increasingly convenient and fast.
Moreover, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this type of consumption has become a daily occurrence.
But have you ever felt a twinge of guilt, even if only for a moment, as you watched the stacks of wrapping paper and boxes pile up?
Have you ever imagined a planet suffering from mountains of garbage? This imagination was the inspiration for the picture book "Box World."
One day, as she was receiving the items she had ordered online as usual, a pile of boxes in a corner of her house caught the eye of author Yun Yeo-rim.
The recycling bin was also full of torn boxes.
At that moment, the author suddenly had an image of boxes eating the world.
I started writing the story by following the boxes in the image.


"Box World" explores timely topics such as overconsumption, waste, and the environment using the symbolic keyword of "box."
The 'box' symbolizes all the things in the world that are created, used, and thrown away by people's indiscriminate desires.
In particular, by personifying the 'box' and adding thoughts and emotions, the storytelling of this picture book expands and reaches the reader more persuasively.


It's a problem that can't be solved right now, but
Let's work together to ensure that people, the Earth, and everyone on Earth can coexist happily.

The first draft of "Box World" was a rather dark and heavy story.
However, in this picture book, author Yeo-rim Yoon wanted to talk about hope, not despair and fear.
Stopping online shopping or eliminating boxes are extreme and unrealistic solutions.
It's a problem for which we can't find an answer right now, but it's undeniably a problem that must be solved if everyone on Earth is to coexist happily.
And seeing that the Earth is already sending people various warnings about environmental pollution, climate change, and other issues, I feel a sense of crisis that time is running out to solve these problems.
Finding a way for humans to enjoy the necessities of life while coexisting with the Earth is perhaps a task we all must solve together.
Perhaps that is why the author repeats the story again in the last part of the picture book, creating an open ending in the form of a 'story without an end'.
What if the readers of "Box World" pondered and explored the ending for themselves in their daily lives?

[Author's Note]

Will there ever be a day when boxes disappear from this world? I don't know.
As someone who enjoys publishing and reading books, I have no right to shout, “Box, get out!”
I just hope my desire to call the forest's death will diminish.

I just wish my life could be simple.
Until the day when the rate at which trees are reborn exceeds the rate at which they die.

There can be no ending to 『Box World』, written by someone who doesn't know the answer.
I hope that readers will laugh out loud and enjoy 『Box World』 and then imagine the ending.
The endings you create may come together to make the world greener.
Because a healthy imagination is the power that changes the world.
_Yoon Yeo-rim

It's a serious and weighty story, but
A picture book that encourages imagination and enjoyable thinking: "Box World."

Reading "Box World" gives you the pleasure of watching a high-quality animation.
Unlike other picture book manuscripts, the first draft was centered around dialogue, onomatopoeia, and mimetic words, like a screenplay.
I am confident that an illustrator who works on animation as well as picture books will give wings to this manuscript.
That's how artist Lee Myeong-ha took on the job of painting.
Although it contains a serious and weighty subject, I hoped it would be a bright and positive picture book that would be fun and enjoyable to read, allowing readers to discover 'hope' for themselves.
So, the pictures actively utilized cartoon-like compositions that are easy and comfortable for children to understand, such as divided panels, speech bubbles, and handwriting.
Some scenes were even directed like highlights of the animation.
In particular, the scene where the boxes eat the world could be considered scary, but it was portrayed as a noisy and comical scene, like a commotion, and in the scene where the boxes recall the items they contained, the double-page spread was used to metaphorically satirize people's excessive consumption of useless items.

The artist's ability can be seen in the way he breathes life into the simple hexahedral box, making it seem as if it is alive, and in the way each box has its own unique character.
One of the joys of this book is discovering the detailed expressions of boxes hidden throughout the text, not just on the cover.