Part 1

honest heart
Hello, Jangsu Theater
I love you as much as my mom
Author's Note

Part 2

Full Moon District
Go-Back-Loop
Author's Note

Part 3

thorn
toenail
Author's Note

Park Seo-ryeon's first collection of young adult fiction expands the boundaries of young adult fiction.
Novels featuring teenagers & novels suitable for teenagers & novels written by teenagers

Until now, 'young adult novels' have mainly referred to works that represent the voices and reality of young people through young protagonists and provide literary impressions focused on young readers.
With his first collection of young adult fiction, Park Seo-ryeon presents a work that adheres to established definitions while boasting outstanding perfection, while also broadening his perspective to areas that have rarely been highlighted before.

"Honest Heart" and "Hello, Jangsu Theater," which we first encountered, vividly deal with things that could happen among teenagers.
"Go-Baek-Loop" and "Boreumjigu" are also works that make you admire the author's skill in meticulously depicting the characters' psychology.


Meanwhile, "I Like You as Much as Mom" ​​is a work that proves that it can be a young adult novel for young readers even without the appearance of young adults.
This novel, which depicts a love and friendship triangle through the eyes of children, is full of cute charm that is enough to melt the hearts of even the most arrogant young readers.

Park Seo-ryeon shows that ‘novels written by teenagers’ also exist as a branch of youth novels.
The author said that he was embarrassed to reveal the novels "Thorn" and "Claw" that he wrote when he was a high school student, but that they were "works" that he was not ashamed of.
It is time to reconsider our thoughts on 'novels written by teenagers,' which we have considered to be an unfinished field.

Just as readers choose chocolates from a box filled with a variety of chocolates, this collection will allow them to savor the diverse world of young adult novels, from works they already know and appreciate to ones they have never tasted before.

The story of girls who are awkward now but have a promising future ahead of them.
“I’m more attracted to protagonists who could become good in the future rather than protagonists who are good from the beginning.
The reason is simple.
Because I believe that is growth.” (p. 104)

Part 1 contains three stories about the growth of girls who are keenly aware of what is happening to them but are clumsy at managing the emotions they feel, along with an "Author's Note" that explains the motivation for the creation and anecdotes.

"Honest Heart," about which the author stated that he "tried to honestly write about the thoughts of a selfish and short-sighted protagonist as he goes through a series of events" (p. 104), is a story about the struggles of an idol girl who wants to make friends.
'I', who returned to school after being rumored to have bullied a member of an idol group while working as a singer, was bullied by my friends and heard all kinds of harsh words in a chat room I was invited to without knowing why.
'I' finds out that the main culprit of the incident is 'Won-tta', who was originally bullied, and tries to become friends with Won-tta, who feels sorry for him, but soon realizes that he did not approach Won-tta sincerely and feels dizzy.

"Hello, Jangsu Theater" is a novel in which the author confesses that it contains his own longing to escape from his hometown of Cheorwon.
One day, the student body president comes to see 'Na's' father, who runs a theater that is about to close, and wants to interview him.
In response to the suggestion that the interview video be screened at the school festival, the father sends the video he had carefully filmed.
On the day of the festival, my father and I watch a video interview of the townspeople talking about their memories of the theater, and decide to make it the theater's last film.

As previously mentioned, "I Like You as Much as Mom" ​​does not feature any teenagers, but it is a work that teenagers can read and enjoy.
Love and friendship, the eternal themes of literature, are presented through children without losing the fun and aesthetics of a novel.
Joo-bi, who wants to play house with her older brother at night, goes to daycare with her brother's favorite pigtails, but when she sees Sia with the same hairstyle, she sticks gum in Sia's hair.
Joo-bi later finds out that Sia copied his hairstyle to become closer to him.
The next day, when Sia, who has transformed into a short-haired girl, suggests that Jubi play house, Jubi is torn between feeling sorry for Sia and feeling fond of her older brother Bam, and ends up crying.

I hope you can ask yourself, 'What should I do?'
“I believe this is the most important question literature can ask” (p. 154)

Part 2 contains works that showcase the author's outstanding imagination and incorporate science fiction settings.
"Full Moon Earth," which started from the question, "Will holidays still have meaning to us after science and technology advances?" is a story set in the future about a teenager, "I," who has moved from Korea to the moon and is now living there, introducing Chuseok to friends from other countries.
Suddenly, I wonder what I should see on the moon and make a wish for, and I think about creating a new holiday just for the people living on the moon.
The author says that he wrote the story in the hopes that “even if you encounter a simple and easy story, you will gain a more colorful perspective than before reading the story while fully understanding and thinking about the story” (p. 155).

The title piece, "Go-Back-Loop," is a love story about a teenage girl trapped in a time loop.
Hyunji feels burdened by having to do a performance evaluation with Woo Ji-hyun, who is admired by everyone.
However, Jihyun strongly urges Hyunji to come listen to her song on the festival day.
After lightly ignoring Jihyun's request, Hyunji is trapped in a loop where the same thing happens over and over again.
Hyunji realizes that the only way out of the loop is to see Jihyun perform, and is torn between the sincerity in Jihyun's song and his own feelings for her.
The author says that while creating "Boreumjigu" and "Go-Baek-Loop," he was able to reveal his own identity by asking and answering the question, "What would I do in an unrealistic situation?"
Through her works, imbued with the infinitely expanding imagination that has now become her signature, Park Seo-ryeon encourages readers to ask, "What should I do?" and emphasizes that this is the most important question that literature, especially youth literature, can ask.

Meet the young adult novel written by Park Seo-ryeon
“It’s rough and clumsy, but this is my starting point.

“It is my own unique archetype, weak and shameful, but inviolable by no one” (p. 203)
Park Seo-ryeon believes that novels written by teenagers themselves are also a genre, and readily revealed the works she wrote as a teenager as the third part of this book, her first collection of novels for teenagers.
Beyond the pleasure of viewing the youthful works of a writer who has now occupied a distinct space in Korean literature, the two works in Part 3 prove that Park Seo-ryeon was not a literary talent that suddenly appeared.

"Thorn" is the story of a teenager who comes to Seoul from Cheorwon to live with his older sister after his mother passes away.
'I' am reminded of my mother's eyelashes when I look at the thorn stuck in my fingernail, and even though it hurts, I can't seem to remove the thorn.
One day, the protagonist impulsively skips school early and goes back to the neighborhood where he used to live with his mother, but realizes that he can no longer find any trace of her.
The protagonist, who returned to his sister's house, finally feels relieved after realizing his sister's true feelings for him, having been worried that he had disappeared.

"Claws" features a teenager who lives with his stepmother after his father passes away.
The new mother tries to approach me gently, but I only feel rebellious towards her.
Then, when he sees his new mother asleep in the bathtub, he remembers how tired he had been.
'I', who realized too late that there was a new life, that is, my younger sibling, in my new mother's womb, offered to cut his toenails after he came out of the bath.

If we consider the narratives of women that Park Seo-ryeon has explored and explored in various variations since her debut, it seems appropriate to say that "Thorn" and "Claw" are the origins of Park Seo-ryeon's women's chronicle.
The author said, “I wanted to say that teenagers can write novels, and it is not uncommon for teenagers who write novels to eventually become novelists” (p. 201), expressing his hope that young readers who are sprouting up to achieve literary success will gain courage after reading Part 3.