Mason Korea Students Self-Publish Children's Books on Kyobo and Amazon

Eight children's storybooks, written and illustrated by Mason Korea students during the Spring 2024 semester, are now self-published and available for purchase on Kyobo, South Korea's largest bookseller, and Amazon.

These books were created as part of a project for the AVT 311 Graphic Design Methods and Principles course, taught by Dr. Miriam Ahmed, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design. The course focuses on social responsibility and entrepreneurship, encouraging students to apply graphic design and visual communication principles to real-world challenges. 

Students are guided through a rigorous six-week process of writing, copyediting, illustrating, illustrating, designing, critiquing, printing proofs, and self-publishing their books. The process begins with students selecting impactful themes they would have valued in their own childhood. The books tackle themes such as nutrition, cooperation, diversity, moral victory, friendship, imaginary friends, child safety, and self-esteem. 

Targeted at children aged four to six, these stories incorporate best practices for engaging young readers. Each book includes custom-made educational activities, such as word searches, spot-the-difference puzzles, and coloring pages. 

One student, Sellena Hedden (Computer Game Design, '25), even created a bilingual book with text in both English and Japanese. 

“This project offers students a jump start into entrepreneurship,” said Dr. Ahmed. “As authors and illustrators, they own the full intellectual property rights to their books and manage the financial aspects of self-publishing with Kyobo. They compare pricing for competing children’s books, consider production costs, calculate royalties to set sale prices, and also manage revenues from their book sales.”

The self-published books were showcased at the recent Mason Korea Student Project Showcase. The links to the books on Kyobo and Amazon are listed below.

	Kanghee Park Battie Wins a Silver Medal THEMES: Moral victory, competition Link to the store
	Taehyun Lyoo Sammy and His Stardust Quest THEMES: Friendship, cooperation Link to the store
	Yuhyun Kim Lily and the Encouraging Flowers THEMES: Self-esteem/ diversity Link to the store
	Jieun Sim Dumpy Our Nutrition Hero! THEMES: Healthy foods Link to the store
	Jiwon Seok Pawsome Patches THEMES: Love, acceptance, friendship Link to the store
	Sellena Hedden Finny's Adventure: フィニーのぼうけん * Bilingual: English + Japanese THEMES: Mink whales, child safety Link to the store
	Jaehyun Kim Biddu and the Imaginary Friend THEMES: Imaginary friends, nervousness, bravery Link to the store
	Jaeyoon Jeong Dora and the Christmas Secret THEMES: Jumping to conclusions Link to the store

December 10, 2024