By HeeYoung Kim, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas

Welcome abroad! This month’s WOW dozen takes readers on a journey to Korea. Each picturebook and novel in this column were originally published in Korea and later translated into English. These titles are written by Korean authors who speak Korean and live in Korea. Rudine Sims Bishop’s metaphor of mirrors and windows for multicultural children’s literature is an an invaluable tenet when reading global children’s literature too. Each book on this list introduces readers to the Korean culture as well as themes around imagination, love, loss and hope.

 

 

WOW Dozen features a list of 12 global books for children and adolescents around a theme, topic, issue or personal favorites. Each Dozen consists of ten newly-published titles with two older “must have” books. Please share or recommend additional books that fit the theme in the comments section or on social media using #WOWDozen. Use the printer icon in the upper left corner of this post to print or save this list as a PDF.

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• Themes: Chi-Young Kim, Cloud Bread, Deborah Smith, Door, Eun-hee Choung, Gee-eun Lee, Heena Baek, HeeYoung Kim, Hyo-eun Kim, I Am the Subway, Jieun Kiase, Jihyeon Lee, Lee Juck, Lines, Magic Candies, Minji's Salon, Moon Pops, My GrandMom, One Day, Pool, Seung-youn Kim, Sophie Bowman, Sun-mi Hwang, Suzy Lee, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, Wave
• Descriptors: WOW Dozen