The Deep Emotion of Hwang Sun-mi's Original Story, The Hen That Dreamed She Could Fly! Meet It Again in a New Animation Picture Book Since its publication in May 2000, The Hen That Dreamed She Could Fly has been cherished across generations and has become a representative work of Korean children's literature. Having endured for over a decade across eras and generations, this beloved story recently reached one million copies sold, proving once again the enduring power of a truly great tale. This novel beautifully portrays the life and death of Sprout, a hen who leaves the chicken farm with a dream of hatching an egg and seeing a chick born. She raises a baby duck—so different from herself—with deep and devoted love, eventually letting it go free, and ultimately gives her own life to a weasel. Though filled with pain, Sprout's story is one of realizing her own dreams, freedom, and love. This full-length tale gave rise to Sprout, an unforgettable heroine in literature, who has since taken the stage in various forms—theater, traditional Korean music performances, puppet shows, and tabletop theater—winning enthusiastic responses from audiences in fresh and rich new forms each time. It is fascinating to watch how a single literary work, bound together by deep humanism, can cross genres and transform into a living, breathing, moving story. And it will be equally fascinating to watch how the protagonist changes as she appears sometimes whimsically, sometimes vibrantly, and sometimes seriously throughout these different tellings. Now, Sprout, the hen who left the yard, will grace the big screen this summer. And you can meet Sprout first in this animation picture book, before she fully reveals her charm in the world of animation. A Fearless Mother Who Dreams of Freedom: Sprout Goes to the Big Screen The source for the illustrations in this animation picture book is the moving animated film itself. Having signed the rights contract for the original story in May 2005, the animation production team worked tirelessly for six years, saying they wanted to begin with a truly "good story" as they created this original animation. Although the original story—already proven and beloved by readers—was not an easy source to adapt into animation given its weight and depth, the team invested a long time crafting a vessel worthy of such a special story. To best capture the feeling of the original story's pure natural setting, the team avoided 3D techniques, which can still feel artificial and rigid, and instead built the animation on traditional 2D cel animation combined with various special effects. They visited Upo Wetland—Natural Monument No. 524 and the animation's main setting—multiple times, creating a new style that blended Korea's mountains, lakes, and fields with elements of Eastern painting. More than 150 people worked on the production: two years for storyboarding, three years for illustration, and two years for filming, completing 2,000 background shots and 120,000 individual animation frames. Director Oh Sung-yoon of Odoltoggi, who worked alongside Myung Films on the animation, said, "I wanted to show children on the big screen something delicate, vibrant, deep, and beautiful, without holding back." As a feature-length animation made for all generations to enjoy, this project boldly stepped forward, breaking through the storytelling limitations that had long held back feature animation—much like Sprout herself, who never feared a challenge. An Animation Picture Book: The Original Author and the Film Director Join Forces And now, the original author and the film director—who watched the story's transformation from novel to animation with joy and trust—have come together again to create this animation picture book. The Hen That Dreamed She Could Fly animation picture book is based on the animated film, written by original author Hwang Sun-mi and illustrated by the animation production team, Odoltoggi. In the process of adapting a full-length novel into a feature-length animation, and then that animation into a short picture book, the most important thing was preserving the passionate authenticity at the heart of the original story. Both the original author and the film director were united in their commitment to protecting that essence. The result is an animation picture book that feels like a direct window into the moving animated film—capturing the original's deep literary quality alongside short, concise text, delicate and vibrant nature scenes, and dramatic yet humorous characters.