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WORK TITLE: Pencil
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PERSONAL
Born in South Korea.
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CAREER
Graphic designer, freelance illustrator, portraits, and fashion design.
WRITINGS
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PERIODICALS
BookPage, May 2025, Linda M. Castellitto, review of Pencil, p. 31.
Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2025, review of Pencil.
ONLINE
Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (March 2025), review of Pencil.
Hye-Eun Kim was born in South Korea. She began her career as a graphic designer and currently works as a freelance illustrator, usually working in portraits and fashion design.
Author Residence: SOUTH KOREA
Kim, Hye-Eun PENCIL TOON Books/Astra Books for Young Readers (Children's None) $18.99 3, 18 ISBN: 9781662665530
A single pencil holds so much potential.
The shavings from a freshly sharpened pencil turn into the newly formed leaves of a tree sapling. As time progresses, the tree becomes part of a thriving natural space, surrounded by other arboreal wonders. Eventually, several trees are cut down and shipped to an industrial factory belching soot into the air, where they're made into multicolored writing implements. In an art supply store, an East Asian-presenting child picks up one of these pencils from a wall of rainbow colors and embarks on a revelatory artistic journey. Originally published in South Korea, this impeccably told, wordless story is an enchanting tribute to the creative process and a celebration of patience and the natural world. Kim's vibrant art, rendered in colored pencil and marker, is minutely detailed, with delicate linework that prominently showcases both action and stillness. A spread depicting the trees being cut down as birds fly away packs the same emotional punch as the illustrations of the child quietly drawing a forest of trees that come to life--a metafictive twist that brings the tale full circle. The tale closes with tips on how to read a wordless book that speak to the importance of creating space for children to engage with works like this one.
A stunning ode to the natural world and the cyclical nature of imagination.(Picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Kim, Hye-Eun: PENCIL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A823102372/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ae44a707. Accessed 7 June 2025.
By Hye-Eun Kim
What is a colored pencil? Is it just an artist's tool? In Pencil (TOON, $18.99, 9781662665530), debut author-illustrator Hye-Eun Kim wordlessly--and beautifully--conveys to readers all the possibilities that a pencil can signify.
As Pencil begins, curly green shavings tumble down a stark white backdrop, transforming into leaves on a tree that is eventually joined by more trees of different colors, textures, shapes and sizes. Together, they form a forest rife with intricate details and reveling animals.
When the trees are chopped down, a host of exquisitely rendered winged creatures sallies forth: Sparrows curve here, mallards soar there, crows swoop by and an owl flaps along, too. They follow along as the logs are transported to a factory that Kim depicts with a grayscale palette and angled edges, which stand in sharp contrast to the curvy organic shapes of flora and fauna.
At the factory, hard-hatted workers run machinery to remake the logs into pile after pile of colored pencils that eventually take up residence at an art supply store, which is patronized by an expressive little girl who uses her new pencils to decorate tree stumps.
In Pencil, Kim artfully blends the fanciful and the practical as she invites readers to ponder cycles of destruction and renewal, creativity and inspiration. Her focus on a pencil's life cycle casts an everyday object in an interesting new light while prompting reflection on what can happen when nature is not nurtured.
A list of helpful tips in the back matter titled "How to read a silent book" offers strategies for immersing oneself in a wordless tale like this one. "When you close the book, have a moment of silence to give everyone the space to reflect on the experience," Kim suggests, offering the perfect segue to further contemplation and creation.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 BookPage
http://bookpage.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Castellitto, Linda M. "Pencil." BookPage, May 2025, p. 31. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A835362605/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fc8bd3b3. Accessed 7 June 2025.
Pencil
Hye-Eun Kim. Toon, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-66266-553-0
In the opening spreads of this exquisitely drawn wordless story, a blade sharpens a green pencil, whose shavings drift down the page and become leaves. A page later, the view pulls back to reveal a growing forest of tiny, carefully etched trees, then a closely wooded paradise filled with animals. Soon, flocks of birds rise in agitation from the forest. Trees are felled; hauled to a gray, smoky city; and sent through a factory assembly line to make colored pencils. At an art store, a child buys another green pencil. Outside, beginning from the stumps of trees that have been chopped down, the child draws new trunks, branches, and leaves, until animals and birds begin to venture back and the forest is renewed. Lamenting the exploitation of trees and ecosystems, this spare, elegant narrative by Kim (Yellow Boxes, for adults) tells a larger story about the destruction of natural resources, seeding hope that the next generation will restore them. The child’s skin tone takes the white of the page. Instructions for sharing silent books conclude. Ages 5–7. (Mar.)