This is Gayle Hattan with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Today, I’m recommending the children’s picture book Corner written and illustrated by Zo-O (Crow Zoo) and translated from Korean by Ellen Jang.
Alone in the corner of an empty room, there is a little crow. It stands, sits, lays, and thinks. The room in these first few pages is achromatic, vacant, and still, but it doesn’t stay that way for long. The bird brings in colorful pieces of furniture and a few other essentials: a lamp, some books, and a baby houseplant. Soon, the crow is like us in our own bedrooms: reading, sleeping, eating, and talking to its houseplant. But the crow feels that the room is incomplete. “What else?” it asks. The crow climbs a step stool, and then even taller and taller ladders, to fill the vast, white walls with vibrant, yellow designs. The houseplant thrives, and the room grows even brighter and warmer with these additions, but something is still missing… What could it be?
From the book’s uniquely tall and slender format to its captivating, textured pencil illustrations, readers become immersed in the crow’s evolving corner. It’s an honest story that you may find both easy to read and relate to! I laughed at the crow’s overt signs of boredom, the spirited creative endeavors, and the subtle details of quirky belongings moving about the room.
Continue to grow your own corner by checking out Zo-O’s title Corner, and other thought-provoking picture books, at the Sioux City Public Library today!
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