Discover your own 'birth tree' through picture books
I can almost hear the children chatting and laughing brightly as they sit in the large tree.
Introducing “Twelve Months of Tree Children,” a picture book that presents a beautiful tree to each child.
Trees are truly a blessing.
Trees give us fresh air, provide us with delicious fruit, and delight our eyes with beautiful flowers.
The benefits trees provide us are so numerous that it is difficult to list them all.
That's why people really like trees.
Since ancient times, people have worshipped the beautiful tree as a guardian deity that protects the village, and planted a good tree inside their house to pray for good fortune.
Also, from court paintings to folk paintings, trees were drawn to express a noble spirit.
"Twelve Months of Tree Children" is a picture book created with the hope that each child will live with a tree in their heart.
I hope that the virtues of trees will be passed on to children.
The author selects the most beautiful tree each month of the four seasons and gives it to children as a ‘birth tree.’
I hope that children will cherish their own tree in their hearts, and that they will grow up to be healthy in body and mind by emulating its beautiful form and character.

Children's dreams and hopes contained in trees
Each of the twelve trees is chosen from among the trees that have been close to us since ancient times and have been most loved in each season.
Camellia and plum trees that bloom first in the cold season, forsythia and magnolia that brighten spring days, wisteria and zelkova trees that cast cool shade, pomegranate and oak trees that bear jewel-like fruit, rose of Sharon and pine trees that symbolize our country… … These precious trees that come to mind when we think of trees are captured in this book in their most dazzling form.
And beside them are children who are like tree fairies.
The author has long depicted the harmony between plants, animals, and children in his picture books.
There are few sights as lovely as children playing in nature.
Twelve months of children resemble the nature of trees.
The January child is a curious child who, like the camellia tree that blooms its first flowers in winter, flies up vigorously and is the first to welcome the new year.
The child of June is a broad child like the zelkova tree that stands at the entrance to the village and casts a large shade.
The child of October is a child with a deep heart, like an oak tree that bears acorns and provides food to all its members in the mountains.
Following her previous work, “What Kind of Seed Are You?”, author Choi Sook-hee tells this story to children again.
Each child has their own unique specialness, and each dream is precious. If we nurture those dreams well, the world these children will create in the future will become even more colorful and beautiful.
Just as there are countless different trees in this world, creating a rich forest and making the world more beautiful.

The power of painting to beautify life
The artist, whose profession and hobby is painting, has often captured flowers and trees on large canvases.
The 'Flowers and Children' series that I attempted during that time became the basis for this picture book, 'Twelve Months of Tree Children'.
This work dates back to when the author began learning folk painting as a hobby.
Folk paintings contain the wishes of ancient people for blessings and longevity in life.
On the one hand, it is also a simple and pure painting that is hung all over the house to beautify the surroundings.
The artist, who has worked on illustrations using Western painting materials for a long time, has been continuously drawing on large pieces of Korean paper and furniture since learning folk painting, and has naturally incorporated folk painting-style expression techniques into picture books.
The author often takes a walk down the alley near his home, and whenever he sees a house with a charming persimmon tree or a house with beautiful rhododendrons, he is moved by the hands that beautify life.
The author also likes to beautify the surroundings by drawing flowers and trees, and wants to share that beauty with readers by capturing it in picture books.
I hope that the author's heart of being moved by and grateful for nature, and his desire to cherish and beautify the small details of life, will be conveyed to children through this book.