Lovely character, Worry Mole
The cover shows a walking mole with snow piled up on its head.
The combination of a cute face and adorable movements catches everyone's attention at first glance.
The worried mole character is friendly to children.
It's probably because children pay attention to little things that adults can't imagine.
Also, the narrative that weaves the story by comparing a growing snowball to worries is excellent.
This work was introduced at the 2014 Bologna Book Fair before its publication, and at the time, it attracted the attention of many overseas publishers, leading to contracts with publishers in Germany and Canada.

My worries grew and grew like a snowball.
It was one night when it was snowing heavily.
The mole begins to walk along the road, lost in thought.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice the snow piling up on my head as I walked.
At that moment, the mole remembers his grandmother's words, "Whenever you have trouble, try rolling a snowball," and begins to roll the snowball.
The mole's problem is that he has no friends.
Worrying about friends is something that everyone has thought about at least once.
Everyone has worries, big or small, such as the worry that they might not make friends, the worry that they might not be popular with their friends, the worry of secretly suffering from petty fights and misunderstandings among friends, etc.
How can a child solve his worries? A mole's short journey provides the answer.
The mole begins to roll his eyes as the grandmother says.
Soon the snowball will grow uncontrollably.
The growing snowball is a visual representation of growing worries in your head.
Usually, simple worries become more and more complicated as thoughts follow one another.
Also, a mole that is only focused on rolling its eyes will not notice other animals even if they are right in front of its nose.
You can't see, hear, or smell things.
This setting often reminds me of the times when I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't look around and missed opportunities.
A frog, a rabbit, a fox, a wild boar, and a bear are each thrown into the snowball, but Mole doesn't notice anything and feels sorry for him.
This appearance may have been 'my appearance' when I was lost in thought.


Share your heart, join forces and become friends
A voice is heard from within the snowball, “Please save me, please save me!”
The mole puts his ear to the snowball and listens, then goes inside the snowball.
The mole is buried in the snow, with only parts of its body sticking out, and one by one, it meets its other friends.
One becomes two, two becomes three······.
Join forces to make a path through the snow and save your friends.
Also, when I heard the stories of my friends, they said that they were looking for friends like moles.
It's almost like saying that the mole's worries are not his alone.
Empathy is the surest way to win each other's hearts.
Finally, when you work together to take out the big bear, you feel a sense of accomplishment.
Everyone is rescued, and the friends, gathered together for the first time, share the small details of their daily lives.
The boar, who was waiting for a friend to eat dinner with, shares his food, and the fox, who was waiting for a friend to play the flute, plays the flute for a moment.
Sharing small details about daily life like this is the natural way to become friends.
Finally, Mole and his friends come out of the snowball.
Just then, the morning sun rises over there too.
The warm sunlight will slowly melt the snowball.
A snowball melting in the sun means that your worries are completely resolved.

The warm aftertaste of a happy ending
Just when you think it's over, you see Mole and his friends rolling snowballs again.
As always when friends get together, we are caught up in the happy dilemma of 'What should we do for fun?'
And then we make a big snowman with the newly rolled snowballs.
The author's warm gaze can be felt in the truly fairytale-like ending with the addition of 'happy worries'.
Perhaps the author wants to show that while worries are constant, most are ultimately resolved with time or by chance. So, it seems like he's telling children that they don't need to dwell too much on their worries anymore.
"The Mole's Worries" is very much related to situations in our daily lives.
Adults and children alike have countless worries, big and small.
Sometimes it's so trivial that we can't even say it.
How about comparing it to various situations that arise in daily life and discussing how you feel together? This picture book is a heartwarming experience that allows you to share your feelings with others.