“Raising a child is like tending a garden.”
Picture books that encourage children's natural growth

What does it take to grow a garden? Sunlight, water, patience, and, above all, words.
Raising a child is like tending a garden.
This book conveys the message that children are also such beings through short texts and illustrations.
This picture book stands out for its warm perspective that blurs the line between emotional essays and picture books, and captures how adults must "exist" for a child to grow fully.
What children need is neither overprotection nor indifference.
It is a ‘warm gaze’ for a child growing up in ‘trust’ and ‘space.’
Just like a garden, a child needs to be cared for with love, spoken to, nourished, and sometimes left alone to grow.
By emphasizing that both children and gardens are living, free beings, it encourages children to believe in the power of liberation and possibility, and helps adults reflect on parenting styles that are too impatient or too controlling.

The only three things a child needs: care, patience, and freedom.
The philosophy of parenting explained through the metaphor of a garden

A child is not an object to be planted and nurtured, but a being that blossoms in its own unique time.
If you look at the cover of this book, you can see a vivid image of two children running on a large flower pot.
It seems like a life of freedom and worry-free living is unfolding.
When you open the bookshelf, you will sometimes find delightful scenes showing the close relationship between children and gardens.
And as the story unfolds, we follow these children as they grow into adults.
This book, which talks about the passage of time, precious time, the process of becoming an adult, and life beginning again, may feel like a new genre that bridges the gap between emotional essays and picture books.
Beatrice Masini, the author of this book, is a representative Italian children's author who has won the Elsa Morante Ragazzi Award, the Pippi Longstocking Award, and the Italian Andersen Award five times. She is also famous as the Italian translator of Harry Potter.
She is much loved for her works that stand out with their psychological insight and poetic language. Through this book, she speaks of the importance of looking at children naturally, talking to them, and waiting for them, rather than trying to control them.
It will be a loving encouragement to parents and a quiet respect to children.

A concise sentence like poetry, a meeting of lines and colors as free as a child.

Francesca Ballarini, who illustrated this book, is an artist who has gained attention in Europe for her unique and experimental painting style.
Her drawings powerfully visualize emotional and philosophical messages.
Between the sentences that make use of the margins, Ballarini's delicate drawings unfold vividly.
The drawings, which feel as if drawn by a child, are simple yet rhythmic, focusing on four main colors, stimulating the emotions of children and leaving a lasting impression on adults.
It intuitively conveys natural and free growth and captures the readers' attention.