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Author: Linda Sue Park, Ho Baek Lee (illustrator) Language: English Summary: Bee-bim bop (“mix-mix rice”) is a traditional Korean dish. In bouncy rhyming text, a hungry child tells of helping her mother make bee-bim bop: shopping, preparing ingredients, setting the table, and sitting down to enjoy a favorite meal. The enthusiasm of the narrator is conveyed in the whimsical illustrations, which bring details from the … Continue reading Bee-bim Bop!
Author: Robin Ha
Language: English
Summary:
A powerful and moving teen graphic novel memoir about immigration, belonging, and how arts can save a life—perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and Hey, Kiddo.
For as long as she can remember, it’s been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together.
Continue reading “Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir”
Author: Susan Kuklin Language: English Summary: “Maybe next time they hear someone railing about how terrible immigrants are, they’ll think about me. I’m a real person.” Meet nine courageous young adults who have lived in the United States with a secret for much of their lives: they are not U.S. citizens. They came from Colombia, Mexico, Ghana, Independent Samoa, and Korea. They came seeking education, … Continue reading We are here to stay
Author: Min Jin Lee Language: English Summary: NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * FINALIST FOR THE 2018 DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE In this gorgeous, page-turning saga, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan, exiled from a home they never knew. “There could only be a few winners, and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because … Continue reading Pachinko
Author: Hope Kim
Language: English
Summary: Hope is not your typical teenage girl. After a tumultuous childhood, she is once again in a new town and a new school which her mother has dragged her to. As is often the case, she is one of the only Asian kids in an all-white school and is still dealing with family issues. Hope is struggling to adjust to her new environment as a freshman in high school, where she meets a school counselor who helps her wade through the entire school year as well as pushes her to explore her past and what it means to her well-being. She is spunky and humorous, as well as contemplative, using prose and poetry to search for answers from the world as well as from God.
Deeply personal to the author, Korean Girl in American is a profound and poignant story about struggling through difficult times and the angst which inevitably comes with tough family situations, new environments, and being in the minority. There is a blend of hardship, humor, pain, and laughter as one teen girl explores her own actions, thoughts, and dreams through the typical as well as unusual events of her teenage life. Join her as you feel, ponder, seek, and laugh with every new hurdle in her life, and search for meaning in her history and future. – Source: Amazon.com
Continue reading “Korean girl in America”
Author: Brian M. Williams
Language: English
Summary: At his most immodest, Brian would like to believe Bill Bryson would be able to recognize his influence on this book. It’s a humorous, informative and thoughtful exploration of modern Korean culture and expat life. The book is full of personal anecdotes, secondhand stories and interesting facts, which are all interlaced with his personal narrative. Brian discusses serious topics like Korea’s deeply embedded racism, its 1950’s style sexism, its demanding but unproductive work culture and its highly lauded but deeply flawed education system. However, he also talks about lighter subjects like K-pop, the expat and Korean dating scenes, its debaucherous drinking culture, and why he thinks Seoul should be considered the party capital of Asia. By time readers are done, they’ll have an understanding of how a lot of expats view Korea, what some of its most significant and peculiar cultural differences are and some of the problems it’s currently facing. This is a must read for anyone thinking of moving there. Source: Amazon.com
Continue reading “Stranger in a stranger land: my six years in Korea”
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