A classics teacher tells
The world's wisest and most entertaining idiom

- Includes 58 essential classics for young readers
- A long-term bestseller in the youth category at the four major bookstores, and a follow-up to the Mom Cafe-popular book, "The Forest of Philosophy."

A lot changes when a child reaches older grades.
Not only does the amount of learning increase significantly, but a broad reading habit that expands one's thinking skills becomes very important.
This is because the intellectual resources accumulated during this period serve as a solid stepping stone for children to live their lives in the future.
And the best content to broaden children's horizons is definitely 'classics'.
But here again, the parents' worries begin.
We buy classic must-read books and fill our bookshelves at home, but our children's reading remains at the level of educational comic books or light storybooks that they read when they were young.
How on earth can we effectively impart to children the classics as a way of life?

In fact, the answer to this problem can only be found when the parents' thinking changes, not the children's.
It's not that children hate classics, they just haven't encountered any 'fun' classics yet.
Even though reading hasn't become a habit, children are pressured and pushed by the world's standards that everyone else does, so they don't even get a chance to become close to the classics.
This book, a sequel to "The Forest of Philosophy," which became a bestseller for teenagers when it was published in 2020, was so well-received that even children who disliked books would seek it out and read it on their own. Rather than imparting heavy and boring knowledge, this book presents a variety of stories that can spark children's interest and expand their thinking.
By interpreting works passed down from the past at a teenager's level, it allows readers to interact with classics as if they were playing a game and immerse themselves in the world of classics as if reading a comic book.
By reducing elements such as overly formal expressions, overly difficult Chinese characters, and predictable characters like only good heroes or one-sided villains, it breaks the conventional grammar that classics are stale by adding exciting and fun stories, colorful illustrations, and protagonists who seem to show us ourselves as we go through various trials and errors.


Reading should never be forced.
Parents must be kind guides to help their children discover content that will make them happy and enjoy themselves.
Now, let's start the conversation with some interesting characters from this book and leave the rest up to the child.
Surely, it won't be long before you witness the amazing transformation of your child, who will add sparkling thoughts to the wisdom passed down from ages ago and express them in his own words quite beautifully.

“You can’t talk about the ocean with a frog in a well.
Because he's trapped in space.
You can't even mention ice with the little insects of summer.
Because he is bound by time.
Likewise, you cannot discuss noble and profound knowledge with a shallow person.
Because his knowledge is limited.
Now, through your own experience, you have emerged from the narrow, small river into the vast, surging ocean, and in an instant you have realized your own insignificance.
“If you can empty your mind like that, you can converse with us about great, profound truths.”
--- pp.57~58

People with evil intentions, who slander and slander others, persistently spread slander and fabricate false rumors.
At first, you may ignore it as if it is impossible, but if you continue to make up similar stories to slander them, their ears will gradually perk up, like getting wet in a drizzle, and they will find it plausible and eventually accept it as fact.
If only three people tell you something, you'll believe it easily, but if more people tell you something, you'll believe it right away without even checking the facts.
If you only listen to what others say without comparing and examining it with objective examples, you will never know the truth.
How much information is deliberately manipulated around us? Even if it's from multiple sources, or even from someone you trust, we must carefully examine and analyze the evidence to ensure its validity before making a judgment to reduce mistakes.
This story gave rise to the idiom "Three people make a tiger", which means that even if something is baseless, if many people repeat it, people will listen and believe it.

--- p.98

There is a Latin proverb that says, 'Remember that you must die? Memento mori.'
It is said that in ancient Rome, when a general won a war, he would have a slave follow him and shout this phrase as he paraded through the streets.
It means that you may feel proud now as if you have won the world, but you may lose the war and die tomorrow, so you should always maintain a humble attitude.
Everyone dies.
If we were even occasionally aware that we could die tomorrow, wouldn't we strive to live each moment more fully and meaningfully? If someone who will eventually die is constantly struggling to acquire more, committing all manner of evil, what meaning is there in such a life?
--- p.144

King Gyeonggong of my country said to his minister, Xuanzang:
“Hyeonjang, it’s been 17 years since I lost Anyeong.
Since then, I have never heard a single word pointing out my mistakes.
“I just shot an arrow and hit the target, and it sounded like someone was praising me for it.”

Hearing this, the field responded.
“This is because many of your subjects are incompetent.
They do not know that even a wise king can make mistakes, and they do not have the courage to speak up and offend the king.
But there is one thing.
It means knowing very well what the king likes.
The subjects follow what the king likes and eat what the king enjoys.
When caterpillars eat yellow leaves, their body color turns yellow, and when they eat blue leaves, their body color turns blue.
“I wonder if the King likes the words of flatterers?”
--- pp.172~173

“I saw something interesting.
There is a tree in the backyard and a cicada on the tree.
He sang a song with great joy while drinking the dew from a high place.
Yet, he had no idea that a locust was hiding right behind him, trying to eat him.
The grasshopper bent and straightened its back and lifted its two hook-like forelegs to catch the cicada, but it didn't know that the cicada was quietly drooling behind it, ready to catch it.
The cuckoo stretched out its neck to catch the cicada, but it didn't know that someone was standing under the tree, holding a bullet and aiming it.
These little animals only see the immediate benefits and do not see the disaster lurking behind them.”

--- pp.228~229