My favourite Korean baby book is Nun Ko Ip (Eyes Nose Mouth / 눈 코 입) by Baek Ju-hee, first published in 2017 by Bori Publishing Co.

This book is quietly brilliant.

frontcover

The book introduces different body parts. It could have been just one double-page spread per body part, like a non-fiction book for babies. But instead, and without any wasted words, it tells a story.

elephant-says-mouth

Over the first half of the book, the five characters are introduced one by one, as they announce different body parts and point to them. Young children seem to love this kind of rhythmic/repetitive structure (like the Gruffalo).

rabbit-says-head

Each page is hand illustrated and well balanced. The colour of the speech bubble on the left matches the background on the right. I love that the backgrounds are also hand painted. It adds a little bit of texture, where often there is just a plain uniform computer-generated fill. The text too is playful, wrapping around the drawings.

elephant-says-tail

The animals and baby on the left-hand pages all point to the body part. They are not always drawn the same way, but have different expressions on their faces. This pays off in the second half of the book, when the elephant says ‘tail!’, and the baby gets upset because he doesn’t have one.

rabbit-says-tummy-button

Over the next couple of pages, the animals announce ‘bottom!’ instead, which brings the baby back into the game. Then everyone is happy again, and the baby shows he is part of the group by announcing ‘tummy button!’, before they all bow and say goodbye on the last page.

Why do I care?

Do babies care that a background is hand painted rather than computer filled? Possibly not. But it’s certainly true that kids (and babies as soon as they understand) enjoy a story, and I think they enjoy seeing good artwork.

Also, although the purpose of a baby book is to entertain and educate the baby rather than the grown-up reading it to them, the grown-up has to read it too! So I appreciate seeing quality. I like to think the baby is learning good taste at the same time.

My own children’s book, A Curious Letter from Nebuchadnezzar, is not a best seller. Nonetheless, I have an ambition to write some more kids’ books, such as a Bible Overview and Job for Babies. High quality baby books like Nun Ko Ip are giving me inspiration by showing the art that’s possible in simple books.