When a girl in a wheelchair calls to people far below to look up and see her, one finds a way to brighten her day.
Look Up!
Korea
Materials from Korea
A Piece of Home
When Hee Jun’s family moves from Korea to West Virginia, he struggles to adjust to his new home. His eyes are not big and round like his classmates’, and he can’t understand anything the teacher says, even when she speaks s-l-o-w-l-y and loudly at him. As he lies in bed at night, the sky seems smaller and darker. But little by little Hee Jun begins to learn English words and make friends on the playground. And one day he is invited to a classmate’s house, where he sees a flower he knows from his garden in Korea — mugunghwa, or rose of Sharon, as his friend tells him — and Hee Jun is happy to bring a shoot to his grandmother to plant a “piece of home” in their new garden. Lyrical prose and lovely illustrations combine in a gentle, realistic story about finding connections in an unfamiliar world.
Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 4.
A Dog Wearing Shoes
Mini finds a dog in the park wearing shoes but no collar and begs to keep him, but soon she realizes that whoever put the shoes on him loves the dog, as well.
In The Moonlight Mist: A Korean Tale
A good-hearted woodcutter finds a heavenly wife in this retelling of a Korean folk tale. One day in the forest, a woodcutter rescues an enchanted deer stalked by a hunter. In return for saving its life, the deer offers to make the woodcutter’s secret wish come true.
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly
No longer content to lay eggs on command only to have them carted off to the market, a hen glimpses her future every morning through the barn doors, where the other animals roam free, and comes up with a plan to escape into the wild–and to hatch an egg of her own.
Tiptoe Tapirs
Tapir and Little Tapir are the quietest creatures in a very noisy jungle, but when a leopard is threatened by a hunter they teach him how to move with a very soft step, and the other animals follow suit.
The Name Jar
Being the new kid in school is hard enough, but what about when nobody can pronounce your name? Having just moved from Korea, Unhei is anxious that American kids will like her. So instead of introducing herself on the first day of school, she tells the class that she will choose a name by the following week. Her new classmates are fascinated by this no-name girl and decide to help out by filling a glass jar with names for her to pick from.
Join the discussion of The Name Jar as well as other books centered around relocation on our My Take/Your Take page.
This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Featured in Volume VII, Issue 4 of WOW Review.
Pool
Two shy children meet at a noisy pool and dive beneath the crowd into a magical undersea land, where they explore a fantastical landscape and meet various creatures.
Across the Tumen: A North Korean Kkotjebi Boy’s Quest
As North Korea undergoes a devastating famine, Yeong-dae loses both his parents and is forced to beg on the streets. Soon, this young boy sets off on a desperate journey to China to find his sister—his last living family member. Captured by the authorities, he is sent back to the North, where he is thrown in jail and tortured.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VII, Issue 3
The Chinese Mirror
A retelling of a traditional Korean tale in which a mirror brought from China causes confusion within a family as each member looks in it and sees a different stranger.