It was great to read picture books with my children, but it was even better to hear their thoughts after reading the books.
Belgian children's book author Kitty Crowder said in an interview, "My mission is to make everything visible: life, love, loneliness, friendship."
As I read picture books with my children and shared my thoughts, emotions that had not been visible before began to appear little by little in the stories.
Especially when a child like Dongwon, who rarely showed his feelings, started talking about himself, my ears perked up.
--- p.41, from “A Heart I Wouldn’t Have Known If It Were Not a Picture Book”

Although it is difficult to completely create a new picture book, anyone can easily change a part of a picture book they like and write their own version.
Find characters, events, and settings from a scene in your favorite picture book, and change one of them to create a new story.
Seoyoung began writing a story with soap as the main character instead of her mother.
By making soap the main character, a new narrative was discovered in that the soap gets smaller each time the moon is washed.
--- p.57, from “Can a Nine-Year-Old Make a Picture Book?”

One way I use in class to elicit story ideas from children is to ask them questions using existing picture books as a medium.
Picture books that touch on issues that children these days are concerned about are good for eliciting empathy from children.
Creativity begins with opening the door to communication with children.
Even if your goal isn't necessarily to create picture books, using picture books as a medium to talk with children can help you create creative reading classes and manage your classroom to foster their character and critical thinking skills.
p.88, from “Everyone has a little bit of a weird side”

One day, as I was immersed in the joy of discovering myself through picture books, a question suddenly arose.
What scenes resonate with children, not just me? I thought picture book creation classes should begin with, "Would you like to tell me about a book you like?" rather than, "This is a good book."
Because what I wanted to share with children through the creative process was conversation, not teaching, and communication, not advice.

p.148, from “Picture Books That Connect with Me_What is a Tong (通) Picture Book?”

Everyone has their own unique feelings and personality.
What if there were a mirror that reflected me as an object? I named the mirror that reflected me as an object a "metaphor mirror."
By projecting myself into the metaphorical mirror, I could express myself with one concise visual image instead of a lengthy explanation.
Because the most important process in the picture book creation class was looking into my inner self.
p.194, from “Finding an Object That Reflects Me_Self-Expression Through the ‘Metaphor Mirror’”

While working on a classroom picture book creation project, I have written and illustrated over 200 picture books with children.
Each of the picture books created by children had its own meaning, but when viewed as a whole, they also had a larger contextual meaning.
As I accumulated quite a few creative picture books, I was able to naturally understand the tendencies of what materials children mainly use when creating stories and how they develop their stories.
When we analyzed the picture books created by children, we found that they created narratives using three main story structures.
These are the ‘structure that poses a mystery’, the ‘structure that questions stereotypes’, and lastly, the ‘structure of repeated frustration and challenge’.

--- pp.229~230, from “Three Story Structures Frequently Used by Children”

When creating picture books, children face limitations at every moment.
When children feel frustrated because they have so much to say in their hearts but don't know where to start or how to express it, or when they feel vague because they can't quite put their desired feelings onto paper, they begin to worry like this.
'How can I solve this?' 'How should I tell my story?' At this point, it is important to try various methods to overcome that limitation.
If you can't draw, you can try cutting and pasting, and if you can't express it in detail, you can try drawing it roughly by scribbling.
By trying different methods to make the impossible possible, you can discover new joys you never knew existed.
In the process, you will learn how to tell a story and develop your own way and attitude toward problem solving.
--- p.303, from “Prescription for Children Afraid of Drawing”

Completing a picture book is not a destination, but a new starting point.
Once the picture book is completed, it is time to fully engage in appreciation activities in the classroom based on the 'Creative Virtuous Cycle Reading Activity'.
Children who complete picture books become independent creators and create a new appreciation culture in the classroom through the process of giving and receiving feedback.
When appreciation becomes sufficiently heated in the classroom, appreciation activities expand and flow out of the school like boiling water overflowing.
Picture books can be placed in the school library so that all students can read them together, and children's original picture books can be shared with parents and other members of the local community through local libraries.
Additionally, sharing picture books with children from other schools can open the door to another creative endeavor.
Finally, by creating an English-translated picture book, we can share children's stories with a wider world through cultural exchanges with overseas educational institutions.

--- pp.319~320, from “Appreciation and Creation Form a Virtuous Cycle”