early spring
1.
Ignorance and the Unknown · Spring
2.
Time to say hello · Summer
3.
And one more round · Autumn
4.
Probability of Certainty · Early Winter
5.
Worst Favorite · Winter, Graduation
Spring again

□ 'Seasonal Series' by Kim Da-no, the grand prize winner of the Nadam Children's Book Creation Contest
A Journey Running to Tomorrow's Us: The Worst Favorite

There is an expression that describes the feeling of time passing quickly: 'Teenagers run at 10 km/h, those in their 20s at 20 km/h... and those in their 60s at 60 km/h.'
As we get older, it means that time in life passes by at a faster rate.
If this expression holds true, does time really pass more slowly for elementary school students than for adults? How does a thirteen-year-old, currently in sixth grade, feel like in his or her year, running at roughly 13 kilometers per hour?

Author Kim Da-no, who won the grand prize at the first Nadam Children's Book Creation Contest and has been praised for depicting a better tomorrow for children with a delicate sensibility in each of her subsequent works, has published a new book, "The Worst Favorite," which tells the story of a year in elementary school, during the sixth grade.
《The Worst Favorite》 is also the first domestic volume in the 'Dasan Children's Literature' series, which translates and publishes international bestselling books such as 《Front Desk》, 《The Little Match Girl Strikes Back》, 《Spark》, and 《Wolf》.
Let's take a closer look at the journey of children running toward tomorrow at 13 kilometers per hour through "The Worst Favorite," the fruit of the first meeting between author Kim Da-no and "Dasan Children's Literature."


□ Passing through spring, summer, fall and meeting winter
The growth formula that I'm beginning to vaguely understand

《The Worst Love》 begins on March 2nd, the first day of the new semester, in a classroom full of excitement and tension in Class 1 of the 6th grade.
It contains the story of a year, from the languid yet warm spring, through the crisp green summer, through the rustling autumn leaves, through the winter when everything seems to be frozen, until the spring when cherry blossoms fall again.
As one year passes, the children in Class 1, Grade 6 grow from elementary school students to middle school students, from children to teenagers.
Just because time passes doesn't mean you can label something as 'growth'.
If growth is about discovering one's true self through various relationships, then the children in Class 1, Grade 6, grow by "finding themselves" by forming various relationships throughout the year.


In the spring story "Ignorance and the Unknown," Ignorance is trapped by prejudice about appearance and is unable to examine her true self.
In the summer story “Time to Say Goodbye,” Sumin, who cannot say “no” to others and therefore cannot raise her voice, appears, and in the fall story “And One More Round,” Jun-gu’s voice appears as he tries to give up what he likes after his father says, “You can’t live doing only what you like.”
In the early winter story "The Probability of Certainty," Myeongji thinks that they cannot be friends because of the 'age' barrier.
The winter story "The Worst Love", where even more bitterly cold awaits, depicts how the heart that loves a lover turns to the worst in the face of a 'disability'.
Because of their appearance, personality, age, and disabilities, the children in Class 1, Grade 6 have a hard time forming relationships with anyone.
The best can become the worst too easily, and the path to overcoming the worst seems difficult.
However, if you drive at 13 km/h, you can run without any problems.
Rather than giving up or taking the easy way out, children navigate the many challenges facing relationships in their own way, slowly but calmly, difficultly but with greater depth and wisdom.
And eventually, through that relationship, you grow at a pace that cannot be converted into numbers.


□ We love to grow!
A New Paradigm for Elementary Romance

Although it deals with the large category of 'relationships', the emotion that the children in Class 1, Grade 6 experience is ultimately 'love'.
The five love stories transcend appearance, personality, dreams, age, and disability and are interwoven into an omnibus.


“I think ‘love’ is ‘the feeling of thinking of someone as special.’
“If you keep thinking about someone, wondering about them, and wanting to see them, unlike other people, then that can be called ‘love.’” (From the author’s note)

Ultimately, love is the feeling of being curious about others, the feeling of that feeling growing to make someone special to you, and the process of creating special moments just for you with that person.
The emotions felt by 'Muji and Miji', 'Su-min and Grandma', 'Jung-gu and Gion', 'Myeong-ji and Taek', and 'Jin-ah and Dae-han' in the five stories of 'The Worst Love' are all love.
And this love is a universal human emotion that anyone living at n kilometers per hour can feel.
In "The Worst Favorite," where emotions flow at 13 kilometers per hour, the children slowly look into each other more deeply at their own pace.
Curiosity and gaze toward others soon turn toward oneself, and one finally experiences 'growth' in which one gets to know one's true self.

Let's break free from conventional perspectives and grow together with the main characters through "The Worst Favorite," which presents a new paradigm for elementary school love, romance, and dating through the story of a year in the 6th grade class 1 filled with excitement.
At the end of a new perspective, an exciting and pleasant tomorrow awaits us, with enough reason to wait for all seasons.


□ Editor's Note

These days, it's common for elementary school students to have a girlfriend or boyfriend, right? Speaking of Latte...
Even when I developed feelings for a friend of the opposite sex, I didn't know how to express it and was just embarrassed.
I think there were one or two couples in each grade, but then they became the target of attention and teasing from the whole grade, so I think I just tried to hide those feelings even more.
If your parents or other adults find out, you have to be prepared to get scolded.


But these days, it seems that elementary school students dating are not considered as 'unlikely' as they used to be.
There is an atmosphere where both children and adults watching them are somewhat relaxed about dating and breaking up with someone.
However, as we become more relaxed, we also tend to think 'easy'.
Parents often dismiss elementary school romances as nothing more than child's play, dismissing them as a mere misstep before middle school, when they should be focusing on their studies.
Since adults think it's easy, the children involved also can't help but think it's easy to meet and break up with someone.
Girlfriend in first year, boyfriend in second year, it only takes a few words on text to go from meeting to breaking up.


If I had learned then that the fluttering emotions welling up in my heart weren't something to be ashamed of, would it have been a little easier to truly examine my own feelings now? If I had realized that dislike is just as natural as liking someone, and learned how to express it properly, how would my relationships be different now?

I hope our children will neither be ashamed of nor take it lightly for any feelings that arise in them.
I hope that you will be able to honestly look into your own heart, communicate with others through that heart, and value others' opinions as much as your own.
With that in mind, I am releasing “The Worst Favorite” into the world.
I am confident that the children in Class 1, Grade 6 in "The Worst Favorite" will become much better adults than the adults of today, and I believe that you, the readers of this work, can also become such adults.
Of course, you can ignore this grandiose belief.
It's a work that's fun and heart-pounding enough to read without needing anything grandiose.
I want to spend four seasons filled with excitement with you.