Book Introduction This picture book captures the long, eventful life of a tree from beginning to end. From a tiny sprout, it grows steadily through the seasons, standing firm through every kind of weather, competing with neighboring trees, doing its best to leave behind new life, and eventually returning to the earth. The story is both fierce and beautiful. A single seed falls from a pinecone and lies on the ground, enduring cold and snowstorms through the winter. The following spring, as if by magic, the seed sends a sharp green shoot up toward the sky. By the time the young pine has grown into a strong sapling, another seedling with broad leaves sprouts beside it—an oak tree. The pine and the oak differ not only in their leaves but also in their fruit and the way they weather winter. By placing the life stories of the pine and the oak side by side, the book highlights both the shared patterns of plant growth and the striking differences between conifers and broadleaf trees—including how they compete with one another and change through the seasons. From the Book Much time has passed. Acorns have fallen and sprouted, and the area has become a forest of oak trees. As the oaks cast their wide shadows, the pine stretched its branches higher and higher, reaching for sunlight. Year after year, the pine grew fewer new needles, its branches growing bare and thin, weighed down only by clusters of pinecones. — From the text About the Author and Illustrator Hwang Bo-yeon (Author) Hwang Bo-yeon graduated from the Department of Biology Education at Korea National University of Education and earned a Ph.D. in animal behavior and ornithology from Kyung Hee University. She currently serves as the head of the Bird Research Center at the National Park Research Institute, studying the natural ecosystems of national parks. Her books include "A Very Tiny Seed Grows," "Chasing, Being Chased, Finding, and Hiding," and "A Puddle Observation Diary." She has also supervised books such as "The Oddly Strange Animal Encyclopedia" and "The Secret Is in the Poop!" Her recent works include "Herbivores Gathered All Together," "Animal Encyclopedia," and "Fun Animal Stories," among a total of 49 published titles. Lee Je-ho (Illustrator) Lee Je-ho was born in 1959 in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province. He studied painting at Chung-Ang University. His illustration work includes "The Boribook Encyclopedia of Korean Plants (Detailed Illustrations)," "The Boribook Encyclopedia of Korean Animals (Detailed Illustrations)," "The Boribook Encyclopedia of Korean Trees (Detailed Illustrations)," "Legends of Insects," and "A Very Tiny Seed Grows." His recent works include "Grandmother's Farming Diary," "Winter Buds, Spring Flowers," and "What Happened in the Oak Grove?"