These tales may miss the connection to a current Western audience.
Three traditional Korean folktales are combined into one anthology, fully illustrated, with an introduction on the cultural background.
During his lifetime, storyteller and journalist Kim (1907-1981) published multiple books on Korean folklore. The three stories chosen for this anthology (“The Magic Gem,” “The Tigers of the Kumgang Mountains,” and “The Deer and the Woodcutter”) have been previously published as stand-alone books. Exploring the curiosities of nature, each of the three legends tells an entertaining tale while imparting cherished Korean beliefs and values. As with the Grimms’ tales, there are hard truths and feelings of hatred, jealousy, and desire. Two of the stories clearly value being kind to wild animals, with celestial rewards. They also involve filial devotion, with a return to family leading to mixed results. Some of the morals are ambiguous and complicated. For example, the woodcutter kidnaps a fairy and makes her his wife, a turn of events she accepts with calm. And, unfortunately, the story of the tigers, a revered symbol in Korean culture, also does not migrate well. In the tale, tigers assume human forms, such as a priest, an old woman, and a young married couple. In each case, a hunter, avenging the death of his father, shoots these people, whose bodies then transform back into dead tigers. There may be a story of persistence here, but the revenge story and gun violence seem louder.
These tales may miss the connection to a current Western audience. (Fairy tales. 6-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8048-5227-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Tuttle
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist.
This follow-up to How To Read a Story (2005) shows a child going through the steps of creating a story, from choosing an idea through sharing with friends.
A young black child lies in a grassy field writing in a journal, working on “Step 1 / Search for an Idea— / a shiny one.” During a walk to the library, various ideas float in colorful thought bubbles, with exclamation points: “playing soccer! / dogs!” Inside the library, less-distinct ideas, expressed as shapes and pictures, with question marks, float about as the writer collects ideas to choose from. The young writer must then choose a setting, a main character, and a problem for that protagonist. Plotting, writing with detail, and revising are described in child-friendly terms and shown visually, in the form of lists and notes on faux pieces of paper. Finally, the writer sits in the same field, in a new season, sharing the story with friends. The illustrations feature the child’s writing and drawing as well as images of imagined events from the book in progress bursting off the page. The child’s main character is an adventurous mermaid who looks just like the child, complete with afro-puff pigtails, representing an affirming message about writing oneself into the world. The child’s family, depicted as black, moves in the background of the setting, which is also populated by a multiracial cast.
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5666-8
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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