The trip back home

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... MCML Central Library - Conroe	Juvenile Books, circulating	E Won	Searching... Unknown
Searching... MCML South Regional Library - The Woodlands	Juvenile Books, circulating	E Won	Searching... Unknown

These are the gifts brought across the ocean to Korea: Leather gloves. An apron with pockets like flowers. A book with pictures and simple words. What is given in return? Simple gifts like these--and so much more.
Janet S. Wong invites us to join her on the trip back home, revealing that even when family members speak different languages, there is still much they can share.

Notes

Janet S. Wong was born in Los Angeles to a Korean mother and a Chinese father. An award-winning author of picture books and poetry for young readers, she lives in Hopewell, New Jersey.

Bo Jia studied painting in China, where he was born and raised. He emigrated to the United States in 1989 and now lives in Washington, D.C., where he works as a designer, painter, and illustrator.

Reviews (1)

School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 3-A gentle celebration of family bonds. Drawing on her own visit to her mother's homeland, Wong relates the excursion of a young American girl and her parent to stay with relatives in Korea. The travelers first carefully select gifts for their hosts: leather work gloves for grandfather, a pretty apron for grandmother, and an alphabet book for the child's aunt. In return, "they gave us hugs." The child participates in daily routines such as heating the house with charcoal placed in a floor tunnel, feeding the pigs, going to the outdoor market, and playing cards-all in a warm, familial setting. Author and illustrator harmonize well, painting the patterns and flavors of rural life. Jia's brown-and-gray watercolor backgrounds are punctuated by spots of bright color in the clothing, rows of vegetables, and in a few special treasures. In a bittersweet, circular closing, gifts are given to the travelers, and "we gave them hugs." The many facets of homecoming and going may be further developed through books such as Eve Bunting's I Have an Olive Tree (HarperCollins, 1999), Allen Say's Grandfather's Journey (Houghton, 1993), Jane Kurtz's Faraway Home (Harcourt, 2000), and Edna Coe Bercaw's Halmoni's Day (Dial, 2000).-Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Reviews (1)

School Library Journal Review