Description: Winner of the Illustration Award at the 30th Children's Book Culture Awards. Recommended by the Children's Book Research Society and the Hanuri Reading Culture Movement Headquarters. Wouldn't it be wonderful if reality and fantasy could exist together in one world? But if you look closely, that world may not be so far away. If you quietly look into the eyes of children lost in imagination, you'll find they've already drifted away from reality. How exciting would it be if a turtle, a penguin, a seal, a hippo, and a whale really appeared in the bathtub we use every day? Just imagining it makes bath time feel fun. In 'Bath Time Is Fun,' we discover how a little bit of everyday imagination can enrich both our lives and our children's daily experiences. Story Summary Sangmin loves taking baths with his duck doll Puka in the fluffy, bubbly bathtub. One day, a turtle who mistakes the bathtub for the ocean appears with a 'bubble, bubble, bubble' sound. While the puzzled turtle and Sangmin look around, they suddenly notice twin penguin brothers nearby. Just then, the soap slips from Sangmin's hand, kicking off a soap-chasing race with the animals — until a smooth brown rock swallows the soap whole. It turns out the brown rock is actually a seal! The seal that swallowed the soap starts blowing bubbles, and the popping sound startles a hippo into appearing. Sangmin lathers soap all over the hippo, and then a whale shows up to give everyone a refreshing splash of water. As Sangmin plays and counts numbers with the animals in the bathtub, his mom calls out, "All done washing? Come on out now!" — and suddenly all the animals disappear back into the water, while Sangmin jumps into the soft, fluffy towel his mom has ready for him. ☞ About the Illustrator Akiko Hayashi was born in Tokyo and graduated from the Faculty of Education, Department of Art, at Yokohama National University. She began studying picture book illustration while drawing spot illustrations for the magazine 'Mother's Friend' (published by Fukuinkan Shoten), and currently lives in Tokyo, Japan. She won the 2nd Picture Book Japan Award for 'What Day Is Today?' and received the Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award for Illustration for 'Bath Time Is Fun,' as well as the 21st Kodansha Publishing Culture Award for 'Eunji and the Fluffy One.' Her many works include 'Isul's First Errand,' 'Suni and Her Little Brother,' 'My Little Brother Is in the Hospital,' 'Today Is Picnic Day,' 'Sak Sak Sak,' 'Goodnight Moon,' 'A Hand Came Out,' 'Walk, Shoes, Walk,' 'I Want to Go Too,' 'Eunji and the Fluffy One,' 'What Day Is Today?,' 'The Magic Paints of the Forest,' 'Let's Be Friends,' 'Bath Time Is Fun,' 'Hide and Seek in the Forest,' 'The Leaf House in the Forest,' 'I Can Go Camping Too!,' and many others.