JEONG IS JEONG

After learning a Korean word that doesn’t easily translate into English, a young girl explores its meaning with her grandmother.

As Luna helps her toddler brother, Joey, put on his boots, Halmeoni (Grandmother) compliments her using the word “jeong.” Luna doesn’t understand, and Halmeoni doesn’t quite know how to explain the term. In her author’s note, Yoon states that jeong is “rooted in collectivism—a cultural belief [that] everyone in the community is connected and looks out for each other.” Heavy stuff, but she finds child-friendly ways to convey the concept to her young audience. At the park, Luna chases down a family to return a toy that their young child has dropped. She shares the last of her cookie dough with Halmeoni and gives her mother a thoughtful gift. All are examples of jeong—actions that reflect kindness, connection, and understanding. She realizes that jeong is also her feeling of homesickness when Halmeoni reminisces about her homeland—a place Luna’s never visited but dearly loves all the same. Jeong is connection with “family and strangers, with home and places unknown, with things as common as a blanket or as unique as Korean culture.” As Yoon takes great care to clarify this word, Lee fills the pages with gentle, pillowy illustrations that evoke a sense of tenderness. Korean symbols along with Korean phonetics appear, opening up the world of translation to readers.

In this empathetic work, small acts of kindness crystallize into a rich understanding of Korean culture.