Over 1.3 million copies sold! A magical place where rice cakes that grant wishes are made. A new volume of the Manbok’s Rice Cake Shop series. ◆ A mysterious rice cake shop overcomes a crisis with the help of Wangguri. Three special wish-granting rice cakes for young sisters who lost their laughter. BIR has published Haha Sisters’ Rice Cake Shop, the eighth volume of the Manbok’s Rice Cake Shop series, which has made history as a Korean original children’s book series with over 1.3 million copies sold. In the story, Wangguri, a new character introduced in the previous volume, Rang-rang Brothers’ Rice Cake Shop, shines through with his efforts to deliver wish-granting rice cakes. Suha and Boha are sisters with a two-year age gap. Their laughter used to have a refreshing vibe like a scent of peppermint. But they have grown apart as they spend less time together and more time studying while being constantly compared to each other by their parents. To reconcile the sisters, ‘Korang the rat’ goes down to the basement kitchen of his rice cake shop early in the morning. Following the instructions of his secret recipe book, he prepares rice cakes for the girls. However, the girls don’t show up until late in the day due to their busy schedule of attending academies after school. This is where Wangguri steps in! But for this delivery mission, Wangguri needs to summon more courage and wit. The story intertwines the realistic concerns of the young girls with the imaginative and unique concept of wish-granting rice cakes, conveying the author’s message of providing children with healthy laughter that can erase their worries. ◆ Tell me which rice cakes can help the Haha sisters! If you eat a Tail Rice Cake, you’ll end up following someone, and if you eat a Laughing Rice Cake, you won’t be able to stop laughing. Suha and Boha, who go to the same school, were known to be such close sisters that they would run to each other after classes. ‘Korang the rat’ loved the refreshing sound of their laughter, reminiscent of a cool peppermint scent. But now, their laughter has been replaced by a cold atmosphere, and ‘Korang the rat’ senses that something is wrong between them. So, he asks Wangguri to go to their house and find out the reason. After discovering that they both have to take more private lessons with Boha needing to improve her already good grades, Suha is facing a decline in her grades, and Suha was hurt by her mother’s comment that she is not as good at studying as her younger sister, Wangguri returns to share all the details with ‘Korang the rat’. The next morning, ‘Korang the rat’ goes down to the basement kitchen and opens the book of secret recipes. Hoping to bring back their laughter, he starts making rice cakes for them, and a feast of mysterious rice cakes unfolds, which include the Tail Rice Cake that makes you follow someone, the Laughing Rice Cake that keeps you laughing, and a wheat crepe that shows you the future. This book captures the sisters’ struggles with low self-esteem due to constant comparisons, and it is also filled with wholesome and funny moments for children who have set aside their favorite activities under the pressure to study hard. ◆ Wangguri’s moment to shine “Don’t worry, ‘Korang the rat’, I’ll deliver them myself again this time.” Wangguri takes on the mission to deliver the rice cakes to the sisters, who are too busy with their academies and don’t have time to visit the shop with their names on the sign. However, this time, the mission seems a little more challenging. He not only has to deliver the rice cakes to both of them but also needs to receive the payment for secret ingredients from Suha, who quickly gets under the cover as soon as she enters her room. Despite obstacles, he successfully delivers the rice cakes to Boha, uses his sticky pads on his toes and remarkable jumping ability to protect the basket of rice cakes from stray cats, and cleverly receives the secret ingredients. Wangguri, who woke up from a long hibernation with lost memory and followed the clues in Grandmother Samshin’s letter to the rice cake shop, gradually becomes an irreplaceable part of the shop alongside ‘Korang the rat’. Together, they stand closely by the children’s side and watch over them. Their warm and caring hearts are more precious and magical than anything else. ◆ Manbok’s Rice Cake Shop series - Manbok’s Rice Cake Shop - Jang-gun’s Rice Cake Shop - Rice Cake Wish Shop - Yangsuny’s Rice Cake Shop - Dalkong’s Rice Cake Shop - Doongsil’s Rice Cake Shop - Rang-rang Brothers’ Rice Cake Shop - Haha Sisters’ Rice Cake Shop Reference: BIR. "Haha Sisters’ Rice Cake Shop", http://bir.co.kr/book/140268/. accessed 20 July 2023.