Park Hyun-min, the award-winning author of the Bologna Ragazzi Award and the Korean Picture Book Award, presents her delightfully engaging dialogue-driven picture book, “The Tortoise and the Hare: The Ultimate Showdown”!

As one of Aesop’s fables, the story of “The Tortoise and the Hare” not only conveys the values of integrity and perseverance, but also offers rich, multi-dimensional enjoyment through its diverse interpretations, adaptations, and cross-genre creations. For this time-honored,家喻户晓 tale, what fresh and ingenious ideas has author Park Hyun-min brought to the table? And beyond the story itself, what kind of world will she lead us into?

“Hey, Turtle! Dare you race me to see who’s faster?”
As soon as the turtle climbed onto the riverbank, it locked eyes with the rabbit. After a subtle pause, the rabbit blurted out the challenge, daring the turtle to race.
“I’m not interested,” the turtle replied curtly.
Instead, the turtle suggested that the rabbit race the tiger—or find another rabbit if it really wanted to race. It even proposed switching from a footrace to a mixed-martial-arts bout instead. The turtle’s carefully calculated psychological tactics made the rabbit increasingly agitated, yet the rabbit showed no sign of backing down. It glared wide-eyed and shouted, “I’m serious!” Its earnest desire to compete with the turtle was almost palpable.

Finally, the rabbit and the turtle—no, the turtle and the rabbit—stood once again at the starting line! The rabbit, its ears pressed tightly back and its focus razor-sharp, and the turtle, carrying its shell without the slightest sign of strain and clenching its fists—what were they each thinking? This time, whose name would be etched on the trophy?

“If I lose, I don’t deserve to be called a rabbit!”—(Rabbit Association)
“This is unbearable—I can’t take it anymore!”—(The crowd in unison)
Clumsy Rabbit vs. Master of Transformation Turtle: Could this really be the final showdown?

“The Tortoise and the Hare: The Ultimate Race” can be seen as a sequel to the familiar “Tortoise and the Hare” tale. It boldly deconstructs the traditional narrative framework that simply recounts the race and its outcome, instead focusing on the development of the tortoise and hare characters and the deeper meaning of the race itself. From start to finish, the story unfolds through dialogue between the two. Moreover, the creator uses the shape and movement of pupils, the wrinkles between the brows, close-up facial expressions, and just two special colors to create a rich sensory palette, making the plot, the characters’ personalities, and their psychological dynamics vividly tangible. This masterful technique is itself a major highlight of the book. The rabbit, which has been relentlessly demanding a race, and the turtle, which teases the rabbit with nonchalant replies, engage in a thrilling back-and-forth exchange that is so entertaining it makes you momentarily forget about the stakes of the race.

In “The Tortoise and the Hare: The Ultimate Race,” the rabbit charges headlong toward a goal. It followed the turtle’s advice and challenged the tiger—but suffered a crushing defeat. When it raced against other rabbits, it felt lost and confused. It won its race against the snail, only to be mocked for it. Yet the moment the turtle finally said, “Alright, let’s race!” the rabbit erupted in joy, its fighting spirit rekindled. However, in a twist of fate, this hard-won opportunity slipped away as the reckless rabbit once again fell into a deep sleep...

Meanwhile, the turtle calmly keeps the rabbit in check. It suggests replacing the footrace with a mixed-martial-arts bout and retreats into its shell, revealing the strong muscles it has been hiding all along. In a bold move, it even strips off its shell before the race, overpowering the rabbit with sheer presence long before the race begins.

“The Tortoise and the Hare: The Ultimate Race” is a picture book that keeps surprising readers until the very last page, filling them with unexpected humor and laughter as they read and observe.

Author Park Hyun-min won the 2021 Bologna Ragazzi Award for Best Children’s Book with “Such a Big Snow,” earning global acclaim. In that work, the white space of the paper itself is expanded into a vast “snow” world, transforming the emptiness of “nothingness” into a winter landscape blanketed in snow. What about “Kids, Let’s Play!”? There, the inky-black paper directly embodies the concept of time, turning into the night. The sight of children playing freely in the darkness quietly transforms the picture book into an unimaginably expansive playground. Even in “City Flight,” which depicts the world from the perspective of the smallest, most humble entities in the city, Park Hyun-min’s brilliant experiments with the picture-book medium are all brimming with ingenuity.

In “The Tortoise and the Hare: The Ultimate Race,” the author uses two colors and varying densities of shading to represent the distinct personalities of the rabbit and the turtle, while free-flowing lines distinguish their respective situations and perspectives. Through their dialogue, the story gains a rhythmic, captivating momentum.
Moreover, the work completely breaks away from the conventional framework of winners and losers or moral lessons, raising fundamental questions about the nature of competition itself: Who is the true subject of the race? What are the contestants’ intentions? What does victory or defeat really mean? In a world where anything can happen at any moment, what are we running for—and whom are we running against? And what value does winning or losing ultimately hold?

The tortoise-and-hare showdown, experienced through bursts of laughter, gives way upon closing the book to a profound reflection on prejudice and the cracks in assumptions long taken for granted—a fresh, jarring impact as striking as the contrast between the two special colors used in the book.

“What matters in life is not speed, but direction! Stop engaging in pointless competitions!”
—Excerpt from the text

Park Hyun-min

In 2021, she won the Best Children’s Book Award at the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair. In 2022, she was selected as “Illustrator of the Year,” and in 2024, she received the Grand Prize in the Fiction Category of the Republic of Korea Picture Book Award for “How to Become True Friends.”
Her published works include “Such a Big Snow,” “Kids, Let’s Play!,” “In Search of Light,” “City Flight,” “White Dog,” “How to Become True Friends,” “Croak and Hoot,” and others.

Author’s Note
If I were to face Lee Se-dol, a nine-dan Go player, I’d rather play Gomoku than Go.
If I were to compete against Usain Bolt, I’d choose to play marbles instead.
If I had to use Go to battle AlphaGo, the best strategy would be to simply pull its power cord.
There is no truly fair contest in this world. While it’s best not to waste energy on pointless battles,
once you’ve decided to compete, simply waiting for the rabbit to fall asleep or relying on luck will get you nowhere.
First, you must understand what kind of game you’re in.
However, any special move that can turn the game around can only be used once—so save it for the decisive moment!