A Child Who Draws a Heart - 2023 Newbery Award

▶What is the mirror that reflects our hearts?
-“Sometimes we learn the truth from our own pictures.”
There is a child here. A child who locks his heart tightly and does not show even the slightest crack, a child who endlessly tries to run away from everyone, a child who hides himself with a wildly exaggerated appearance because he does not want his hurt to be revealed... … Twelve-year-old girl ‘Hollis Woods’ is just such a child. From being abandoned by her parents at the age of one to growing up as a twelve-year-old girl, she has been to so many foster homes that she can't even remember them all. Even if he enters the cozy confines of her family, he ends up running away from her family for fear of being abandoned again.
How great would it be if there was a mirror that reflected our hearts exactly? Sometimes art serves as a mirror that reflects the wounded hearts of children and a therapy that makes them reflect on themselves. In 『The Child Who Draws the Heart』, the mirror that reflects the mind of the main character, Hollis, is also a 'painting'. For Hollis, who has her mind tightly barred and does not communicate at all with others, the only way to express her wishes is to immerse herself in drawing. The pictures become a clue to the 'event' that led Hollis to desperately run away from a family who truly welcomed and cared for her.
The 14 pictures depicting the time Hollis spent with the Regan family are an important key to unraveling the tangled story. One day, as luck would have it, Aunt Josie allows Hollis to paint freely, and shares her artistic connection with her, bringing out Hollis' honest emotions. The 'healing' time spent with Aunt Josie allows Hollis, who used to run away from what she wanted, to realize her own value and take active action to achieve what she desires. As if drawing a sketch on white paper and adding mysterious colors to complete a beautiful painting, Hollis gradually realizes the love of the Regan family contained in them as she looks back on the 14 paintings. 'A heartfelt story'
-〈Newbery Award〉 winner 『The Child Who Draws the Heart』
Can you really imagine the feelings of children abandoned by their parents? The fact that I do not have a family who loves me the most in the world is a pain that anyone who has not experienced it will never know. Children left alone are usually placed in foster homes. The term 'foster home' is not very familiar to us, but it has already been more than ten years since the foster care system was established in Korea. Meeting a new family is never an easy choice, so there are countless problems that the child and existing family members have to go through. However, this is also the process of gaining the warmest community in the world. 『A Child Drawing a Heart』 is a work that harmoniously tells the story of a 'foster home' where such pain and warmth coexist.
Everyone needs a place to stay. Isn't a person's growth ultimately a process of finding his or her own place to stay? In that sense, Hollis, the main character of 『The Child Who Draws the Heart』, experiences very severe growing pains. Hollis is a child who lost his first home, his parents and family, as soon as he was born. Hollis suffers from the absence of his family, but he always runs away from new ones. 『The Child Who Draws the Heart』 is a work depicting the journey of a girl who only wants to run away before being abandoned by someone, and sets out to find a place where she can truly stay.
This work was evaluated as the work that best depicts the pain and sadness of modern society, where the number of children who are not raised in intact families is increasing and is being hurt. He received praise for very delicately expressing the sense of loss caused by the absence of family, the confusion of children left in foster care, and the difficulties experienced during the adoption process from a child's perspective, and received the 'Newbery Award', the most prestigious children's and youth literature award in the United States, and the 'Christopher Award'. I had the honor of receiving both awards at the same time. Through this heartfelt story, readers will be able to reflect once again on the true meaning of family.

▶Main content
There was a baby who was abandoned at the age of one. A place called ‘Hollywoods’, in a corner, without a blanket. The baby was named 'Hollis Woods' after that place. By the time she grew up to be a twelve-year-old girl, she had been to so many foster homes that she can't even remember them all. Hollis, who immerses herself in painting alone, is an artist who paints her heart. However, people only see Hollis as a rough and spoiled troublemaker. Then one day, as luck would have it, she meets Aunt Josie, and her Hollis breaks down the wall in her heart that she has built for a long time and approaches her. Hollis regains her stability by living with her Aunt Josie, but her dementia and her aunt's forgetfulness worsening with each passing day puts her in crisis again. Meanwhile, her Hollis longing is always directed towards the Riggan family. They were the only family that truly welcomed and cared for her, but even from them, Hollis ended up running away. If you follow the drawings in the sketchbook of Hollis Woods, a child who draws her heart, will you be able to find the clue to all the secrets?

☞ Selection and Awards
★ <Newbery Award> winner
★ <Christopher Award> Winner