Hope For The Flowers in Korea
Hope for the Flowers has found an especially enduring home in Korea. Korean readers were discovering Stripe and Yellow’s story as early as the 1970s, long before an official Korean edition was published.
Over the years, Hope for the Flowers found its way into Korean classrooms, including a fifth-grade Korean language-arts textbook. It was also recognized as a recommended book by the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education in South Korea. This helped a new generation of students to discover Stripe and Yellow’s search for meaning, purpose, and what it means to become.
Hope Still Growing in Korean Classrooms
As recently as 2026, Hope for the Flowers was still inspiring students in Korean schools. At Seryu Middle School in Suwon, second-year students spent six class sessions reading and exploring the story together. They held group discussions, created their own quizzes and worksheets, and displayed their work in the school hallway — a wonderful example of a new generation discovering Stripe and Yellow for themselves.
The official Korean edition, 『꽃들에게 희망을』 (Hope for the Flowers), was published by Sigong Junior in 1999. More than twenty years later, that relationship continued when Trina Paulus agreed to a special-edition print run. Trina even wrote a special note to Korean readers, which was included with the books — another chapter in the long journey of Hope in Korea.
A Special Korean Edition
As Hope for the Flowers approached its 50th anniversary, Korea created an extraordinary new interpretation of its familiar yellow cover.
The 2020 Special Re-cover Edition was bound in deep navy fabric, with Stripe, Yellow, the butterfly, and flowers rendered in gold foil. Trina personally participated in the development of the cover, which preserved her handwritten English title while giving the book the feeling of a modern classic. The Korean publisher described the edition as a world-first reimagining of the book’s traditional cover design. There was only one problem: Yellow almost disappeared!
A Little Yellow Rescue
When the beautiful blue cloth edition went to print, the gold design looked stunning—but there was one problem. Yellow had been outlined, but not filled in. Instead of Yellow turning gold, she all but disappeared against the dark blue cover.
Trina’s solution was wonderfully simple: she took a gold fabric pen to her own copy and filled Yellow back in herself.
Trina believes that so much good can come from mistakes. They help us learn, grow, and sometimes laugh out loud. She also believes this particular mistake might make the edition quite a collector’s item!
Hope in Art & Reflection
Across cultures, readers don’t just read Hope for the Flowers—they wrestle with its questions, translating its message into art, reflection, and a search for deeper meaning.
Main Calligraphy (Top Left)
“삶에는 그런
마음으로 사는 건
이상한 것인가
웃긴 놈인가
있을 수 없는 건가…”
English Translation
“In life…
to live with that kind of heart—
is it strange?
Is it foolish?
Is it something that cannot exist…?”
Right Side Text (Narrative Reflection)
“그러던 어느 날,
먹고 자고 또 먹고 자는 생활을 하다
‘소위로 전과 먹고 자라는 것 이상 무엇인가가 있지 않을까?’
이렇게 생각했던 것 자체가 바보 같기도 했는데…
그래서 숲님 벌레들에게서, 사는 건 그저 그런 것이라고 배워왔던
그 단순했던 나에게서 나는 질문을 던졌습니다.
그리고… 사느냐를 찾고 있었습니다.”
“Then one day,
while living a life of eating and sleeping, eating and sleeping again,
I wondered, ‘Is there something more than just eating and growing?’
Even thinking that felt foolish…
So from the worms in the forest,
from the life I had been taught—that living is just that—
I began to question my simple self.
And then…
I found myself searching for what it means to truly live.”
Does Hope For The Flowers speak to you too?
The questions at the heart of this story continue to resonate in different languages, traditions, and communities around the world.