The thrill of rereading something that could not be read according to the norms of the time.
Anthony Browne's "My Dad" revisited in a revised edition 18 years after its domestic publication.

Anthony Brown's picture book, 'My Dad', has been published in a revised edition.
This work, which was first published in the UK in 2000 and was praised as “a rare work that shows a father’s involvement in the child-rearing and growth” (Book Page, 2001), was translated and published in Korea as a complete collection and a single volume (My Dad is the Best, Kinderland) the following year in 2001.


In 1986, 14 years before the publication of “Our Dad,” author Anthony Browne, who had previously shared his thoughts on feminism with readers through “The Pig Book,” revealed in an interview with the British Guardian immediately after the publication of “Our Dad” that he had been contemplating the book for a very long time before publishing it.
“I also wanted to write a positive book about ‘fathers.’
But for a very long time, I couldn't find the right way.” (2000, Guardian) The author was concerned that “Our Dad” might be read as another male hero story, but for Korean readers living in the 2000s, the work could not help but be read as a work that showed “the tired appearance of a father worn down by a difficult life” and “encouraged them to express gratitude to their father” (2009, Busan Ilbo).


At the time of its publication, in the early 2000s, Korean society was experiencing the IMF foreign exchange crisis without a proper safety net, and the idea that the only thing to trust was family swept through the entire society. This was because the song that comforted the common people during that time was the children's song "Cheer Up, Dad" (lyrics by Kwon Yeon-sun, music by Han Su-seong), and the social perception that supporting the family was the father's role was widespread.
However, thanks to the generation of women in their 30s and 40s today, who have mothers who endured hardships while wearing the clothes of compassion and carrying the burden of patriarchy on their backs, leading the cultural flow of the 2000s, cracks have appeared in that solid wall.
Let's take a close look at the revised edition of "Our Dad."
Readers will discover, one by one, meanings that were previously obscured by the norms of the past, such as Little Red Riding Hood watching all this from a corner as her father scolds the wolf, and the figure of an individual who cannot be defined by a single gender dancing alongside her father, keeping the beat.