THE SHADOW AND THE GHOST

A lonely ghost and shadow look to the stars to find a true connection.

Nocturnal Shinbi, a smudgy white ghost with pink circles for cheeks, is tired of haunting houses and wants to explore the natural world. She settles by a nearby rock. After spotting a shooting star, she makes “a wish for a friend” and leaves a note on the rock, then disappears. Greem, a lonely, pink-cheeked dark shadow cast by Shinbi’s rock, emerges the next morning, wishing for “someone to talk to.” Spotting Shinbi’s message, he leaves her a note on a leaf, which she finds that night. A pen pal–like relationship emerges as they draw pictures of themselves and, in a shared creative activity, use pebbles to come up with their own constellations (identified in the text alongside actual star systems, rendered in a different font). When Greem throws a pebble into the sky and makes a wish of his own, a series of shooting stars appear, and the two finally meet, in a burst of golden-speckled sparks that merges into a collective palette of both light and dark. Min’s watercolor, colored pencil, and digital illustrations capture not only the night sky but also the exuberant emotions of the protagonists. The passage of time is conveyed through successive panels in double-page spreads that highlight the wondrous blue, pink, and purple hues of the sky.

A joyful celebration of friendship, the stars, and finding one’s self in this world and beyond.