Description: American picture book author Margaret Wise Brown's 'The Important Book' has been newly illustrated by Korean artist Choi Jae-eun. The original was published in the US in 1949 and 1977. Using simple yet poetic language, the book expresses the most fundamental truths about familiar objects — a spoon, an apple, a shoe. The important thing about a spoon is that you eat with it; the important thing about rain is that it wets everything and makes it damp; and the important thing about you is that you are you. Whether or not readers agree with the author's choices, this book encourages a fresh perspective on the essence of things we encounter every day. What's the most important thing about an apple? That it's round. A spoon? That you eat with it. A shoe? That you wear it. If the important thing about an apple is that it's round like a ball, why is the important thing about grass that it's green? And why is the important thing about snow and daisies that they're white? Margaret Wise Brown captures the 'spoon-ness' of a spoon, the roundness of an apple, and the movement of the wind, leading to surprising discoveries about the most ordinary things. The important thing about the picture book 'The Important Book' is that it inspires children to talk about the important things regarding the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain, bugs, bees, chairs, pencils, bears, rainbows, cats — anything children want to discuss. In other words, long after the last page is turned, conversations about important things continue. Brown expresses the important truths about familiar things — rain, wind, apples, and daisies — in rhythmic language. With playful, word-game-like text that brings children the joy of new discoveries, 'The Important Book' is a perfect book. -Amazon.com Review ■ Book Features Rhythmic sentences like a word game Margaret Wise Brown uses simple, concise sentences to express the important truths of everyday things in a remarkably fresh way. Surreal illustrations reminiscent of Magritte In Choi Jae-eun's illustrations — featuring a surreal atmosphere with a flying spoon, windows floating in the sky, and a window view showing two landscapes at once — traces of her favorite painter, Magritte, can be found throughout. A journey into 'The Important Book' that begins by looking out a window at daisies Starting with the spoon, the journey through 'The Important Book' follows a path from daisies seen through a window, to a picture book lying in a daisy field, to a rainy street within that picture book, to a meadow beyond the rainy road, to snow-covered hills beyond the meadow, to an apple in a small house on the hill, to the wind that shakes the small house, to the sky where the wind lingers, to shoes walking along a path in the sky, and finally to you, who are looking at 'The Important Book.' The most important thing is that you are you Once you were a baby, you grew and grew, and now you are a child, and surely you will grow more and become an adult. Looking into the mirror within the picture book, readers can freshly feel just how important it is that 'I am myself.' Beloved storybook characters The Three Bears, the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, the Three Little Pigs and the Wolf, the Snow Queen, Mary Poppins, Puss in Boots, and more — illustrator Choi Jae-eun has hidden these storybook characters like little jewels throughout the book. These characters become important friends to readers as they grow, a small gift from the picture book's illustrator. Our own important things 'The Important Book,' with its rhythmic, repetitive sentences, is widely used as teaching material in American classrooms. After reading and discussing Margaret Wise Brown's 'The Important Book' together, children find meaningful objects of their own and express, through writing and drawing, the important things about them.