“We would like to publish your story.”

When Adelyn Sim saw an unexpected message from her phone, it took a while for her to realize what this “story” was. 

Sim was part of a gifted arts program in fifth grade where she was given the opportunity by her teacher to write her own children’s book and publish a few personal, non-sale copies. 

The book “Giraffe’s Wings” covers the captivating story of a giraffe’s journey to fly in the beautiful sky; it is a story that gives hope to children to not be afraid of hardships and to work hard to achieve their dreams. 

During the winter of 2021, far after the original book had deeply faded in Sim’s memory, she received a call from an unknown number. After ignoring the call several times, Sim eventually heard from her mom that the call she had been ignoring was from a chief editor in a publishing company who wanted to publish “Giraffe’s Wings.” The chief editor happened to listen to a lecture by Sim’s fifth-grade teacher and was immediately inspired by Sim’s book. 

The process of editing the original copy didn’t take long, but it took a whole year for the book to be published because a separate illustrator worked on the images. Along with the original Korean version, Sim has made an English version that comes as a complimentary gift when purchasing the Korean book. 

“It was unexpected, but I’m glad it happened,” Sim said, happy that she got the chance to relive a part of her childhood.