Description: A warm and sweet story of growth as Manboki—foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, and always picking fights—encounters a mysterious rice cake shop. "Manboki's Rice Cake Shop," the new work by children's author Kim Ri-ri, known for capturing children's everyday lives with wit and rich imagination, has been published by Biryongso. This story follows Manboki, a boy who wants for nothing at home but somehow can't help blurting out unkind words and behaving badly. When he encounters a mysterious rice cake shop, he undergoes a warm and delightful transformation. Kim Ri-ri has already shown her talent for blending children's everyday worries with fantasy in a fresh way through works like "A Gift of Mouse Droppings" and "The Toad Who Lives in the Bathroom." In "Manboki's Rice Cake Shop," she uses delicious, flavorful prose to depict how Manboki—foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, and quarrelsome—gradually changes as he eats magical-seeming rice cakes one by one. By adding fantasy elements to tteok (rice cakes), a traditional Korean food, the story creates a unique charm and a chewy, satisfying reading experience reminiscent of traditional folk tales. Illustrator Lee Seung-hyun, who won an award in the Illustration category of the Korea Children's Book Award for "Ssireum," brings Manboki's expressions and transformations to life with distinctive, characterful artwork. **Manboki's Astonishing Transformation, Where Chewy Storytelling Meets Fantasy Like a Folk Tale** "Eat a rice cake made of sweet rice and your lips will stick shut. Eat a honey rice cake and sweet words will flow out?" Despite what's truly in his heart, Manboki always ends up saying and doing mean things. Naturally, his classmates tend to avoid him. Then one day, on his way home, Manboki discovers a strange rice cake shop—none other than "Manboki's Rice Cake Shop." Intrigued by the shop sharing his name, and drawn in by the sweet, savory smell, he steps inside. But every rice cake has a strange price tag! To eat a wind cake, you need to have done two good deeds; to eat a mugwort cake, you need forty-two children's laughs. Since Manboki has never done a good deed in his life, and there seems to be no shopkeeper around, he sneaks a rice cake—only to watch it vanish before his eyes. Left with no choice, Manboki begins doing good deeds just to earn a rice cake. After eating a sweet rice cake that seals his lips shut, he stops saying unkind things. After quietly helping his friends and completing two good deeds, he earns the right to eat a wind cake that makes him laugh without even trying. The magical power he gains from each rice cake becomes the spark that drives him to do even more good things. What matters most, though, is that the change comes from Manboki's own will. Although he starts doing good deeds simply to "pay" for the rice cakes he wants, the rice cakes are really just an excuse. Manboki, frustrated by words and actions that don't match his true feelings, gradually and steadily builds a soft, warm transformation of his own—just like the rice cakes themselves. **Illustrations with the Warm, Homey Feel of Freshly Made Rice Cakes** The book playfully and distinctively portrays Manboki's gradual shift from a boy who can't help doing unkind things to one who grows more positive over time. Warm, cozy colors are used throughout, and fantastical touches are added to the backgrounds to highlight the emotional changes Manboki experiences with each rice cake he eats. Manboki's ever-changing expressions, shifting with each new situation, are sure to bring a smile to your face.