Book Review: Paint

When you go to the library, there are many great books to read. One amazing book I read is Paint. This novel is about abandoned kids getting adopted. This book is popular in Korea because of its interesting topic and realistic characters.

The author of Paint is Hee Young Lee. She mainly writes books for teenagers. Her first book was A Person is Living. She won the 12th Changbi Youth Literature Award writing this book. I think it was chosen for this award because she did a great job describing the abandoned kids’ feelings. Also, her motivation for writing Paint comes from when she saw the news about the parents who abused their children. She had an idea that the kids could be the ones who choose their parents. She thought like this because the parents usually choose who they will adopt, but the kids are the ones who deserve the chance to live happily with their new parents.

In this book, the main character is Jenu, a boy who is abandoned by his parents. He stays in a place called NC Center which is created by the government for the homeless kids to live. Kids can have the process called “paint” with people who want to adopt them. The children need to make a decision before they turn fifteen because they would have to leave the center and live on their own. There is Jenu’s roommate named Arkie who is playful and bright. He is younger than Jenu but helps him a lot by encouraging him to be good. Jenu and Arkie have different personalities, but they have a great friendship.

After reading Paint, I liked the part about kids deciding their own parents. In reality, kids choosing their parents could offer some benefits. Having “paint” would help parents and kids to learn about each other. In the book, people have three meetings and one long meeting that takes a day, so they may have some time to understand each other’s personalities. Last, the kids could have a better chance at staying with their parents permanently. Some adopted kids become homeless again, but having this process might reduce these incidents.

I want to recommend Paint to my friend because the readers can think about abandoned kids and how they feel. Also, I think this book has a good point about homeless kids. Finally, it is really fun and unique. So, I believe Paint would be a nice book for people who have never thought about child adoptions.