Waiting for Mama » (Bilingual Edition: Korean & Engllish)

Told in a few lines of text, this tender story was first published in a newspaper in 1938. This tale from Korea is universal—a small child waits for Mama at the station, asking the conductor if he has seen her. The conductor hasn't, but cautions the child to wait a little farther from the tracks. It is cold and snowy but the child waits patiently until finally Mama comes. In the last wordless spread, we see the small hand in a mother's firm clasp as they walk away from us. The art and text are so authentic, so real, that this book is best published in a bilingual edition that respects and honors those traditions. The Korean setting gives it special appeal to a growing demographic segment. The institutional market is especially hungry for bilingual books in languages beyond Spanish.

Mary HazeltonCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - School Library Journal

K-Gr 2
Originally published in a Korean newspaper in 1938, this slight story tells of a very young boy waiting patiently for his mother at her streetcar stop. He asks one driver after another if she is coming, standing alone in the cold as daylight dims and snow begins to fall. The last wordless spread shows a snow-covered village with the tiny, almost imperceptible figures of a woman and child walking hand-in-hand through the storm. Readers need to look carefully at this spread to find the pair; otherwise the story is baffling and tragic. The Korean text, written in Hangeul, is accompanied by the English translation, although many pages are wordless. The lovely new pastel-and-ink illustrations depict life of the period. Some are simple ink drawings on ivory pages; others fill the pages with color and texture. The contrast is very pleasing. Changes in perspective effectively create movement and involvement. The text seems secondary to the setting and the art. An afterword on various details in the pictures is included. A worthwhile addition for its multicultural interest and its striking illustrations.