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Linda Sue Park is the author of A Single Shard, which was awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal by the American Library Association in 2002, for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. She has written several other books for young people, including the Jane Addams Peace Prize honor book, When My Name Was Keoko, and the Chicago Tribune Young Adult Literature award title, Project Mulberry. Her most recent books are Tap Dancing on the Roof, a collection of poetry, and Click, a collaborative novel. In spring 2008, her newest novel, Keeping Score, will be published. The daughter of immigrant parents, Ms. Park draws on her Korean ancestry for much of her work. A childhood love of the public library has led her to consider herself a reader first and a writer second. She lives with her family in western New York. |
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Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo From Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park comes a unique poetry collection with Korean roots. A "sijo," a traditional Korean verse form, has a fixed number of stressed syllables and a humorous or ironic twist at the end. Like haiku, sijo are brief and accessible, and the witty last line winds up each poem with a surprise. The verses in this book illuminate funny, unexpected, amazing aspects of the everyday—of breakfast, thunder and lightning, houseplants, tennis, freshly laundered socks. |
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Archer’s Quest In Dorchester, New York, Kevin is doing his homework when suddenly an arrow comes out of nowhere and pins his baseball cap to the wall. The man who shot the arrow claims he fell off a tiger...and wound up in Kevin's room. It's not long before Kevin realizes that the man, who calls himself Chu-mong, or Great Archer, is no ordinary burglar, but a traveler from far away in both space and time. A visit to the local museum confirms that there was a king named Chu-mong in ancient Korea who was legendary for many accomplishments, including exceptional skill with bow and arrow. Kevin knows little about his own Korean heritage, but he understands that unless Archer returns to his people and his throne, history will be changed forever. And he's determined to help Archer go back, no matter what it takes. |
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Yum! Yuck! A Foldout Book of People Sounds In English, we say “Yum!” when we taste something good, and “Yuck!” when it’s bad. But what do they say in other parts of the world? Follow an array of children through an urban marketplace to learn people sounds from other lands. Awards |
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Bee-bim Bop! Bee-bim bop (the name translates as "mix-mix rice") is a traditional Korean dish of rice topped, and then mixed, with meat and vegetables. In bouncy rhyming text, a hungry child tells about helping her mother make bee-bim bop: shopping, preparing ingredients, setting the table, and finally sitting down with her family to enjoy a favorite meal. The energy and enthusiasm of the young narrator are conveyed in the whimsical illustrations, which bring details from the artist's childhood in Korea to his depiction of a modern Korean American family. Awards |
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What Does Bunny See?: A rabbit explores a garden, finding flowers of every color, before hopping home for a nap and dreams of rainbows. Rhyming clues invite the reader to answer the question: What does bunny see? Linda Sue Park's sprightly verses and Maggie Smith's cheerful illustrations will delight young children, as each turn of the page yields a colorful surprise. |
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Project Mulberry Julia Song and her friend Patrick would love to win a blue ribbon, maybe even two, at the state fair. They've always done projects together, and they work well as a team. This time, though, they're having trouble coming up with just the right plan. Then Julia's mother offers a suggestion: They can raise silkworms, as she did when she was a girl in Korea. Patrick thinks it's a great idea. Of course there are obstacles. For example, where will they get mulberry leaves, the only thing silkworms eat? But nothing they can't handle. Julia isn't so sure. The club where kids do their projects is all about traditional American stuff, and raising silkworms just doesn't fit in. Moreover, the author, Ms. Park, seems determined to make Julia's life as complicated as possible, no matter how hard Julia tries to talk her out of it. In her first novel with a contemporary setting, Linda Sue Park delivers a funny, lively story that illuminates both the process of writing a novel and the meaning of growing up American. Awards |
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Mung-Mung: A Fold-Out Book of Animal Sounds What kind of animal says mung-mung? Open the fold to find the answer! |
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The Firekeeper’s Son In Korea in the early 1800s, news from the countryside reached the king by means of signal fires. On one mountaintop after another, a fire was lit when all was well. If the king did not see a fire, that meant trouble, and he would send out his army. Sang-hee is son of the village firekeeper. When his father is unable to light the fire one night, young Sang-hee must take his place. Sang-hee knows how important it is for the fire to be lit—but he wishes that he could see soldiers...just once. Mountains, firelight and shadow, and Sang-hee's struggle with a hard choice are rendered in radiant paintings, which tell their own story of a turning point in a child's life. Awards |
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When My Name Was Keoko Sun-hee and her older brother, Tae-yul, live in Korea with their parents. Because Korea is under Japanese occupation, the children study Japanese and speak it at school. Their own language, their flag, the folktales Uncle tells them—even their names—are all part of the Korean culture that is now forbidden. When World War II comes to Korea, Sun-hee is surprised that the Japanese expect their Korean subjects to fight on their side. But the greatest shock of all comes when Tae-yul enlists in the Japanese army in an attempt to protect Uncle, who is suspected of aiding the Korean resistance. Sun-hee stays behind, entrusted with the life-and-death secrets of a family at war. Awards |
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A Single Shard Tree-ear, an orphan, lives under a bridge in Ch'ulp'o, a potters' village famed for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated with the potter's craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes Tree-ear on as his helper, Tree-ear is elated until he finds obstacles in his path: the backbreaking labor of digging and hauling clay, Min's irascible temper, and his own ignorance. But Tree-ear is determined to prove himself even if it means taking a long, solitary journey on foot to present Min's work in the hope of a royal commission...even if it means arriving at the royal court with nothing to show but a single celadon shard. Awards |
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The Kite Fighters In a riveting narrative set in fifteenth-century Korea, two brothers discover a shared passion for kites. Kee-sup can craft a kite unequaled in strength and beauty, but his younger brother, Young-sup, can fly a kite as if he controlled the wind itself. Their combined skills attract the notice of Korea's young king, who chooses Young-sup to fly the royal kite in the New Year kite-flying competition—an honor that is also an awesome responsibility. Although tradition decrees, and the boys' father insists, that the older brother represent the family, both brothers know that this time the family's honor is best left in Young-sup's hands. This touching and suspenseful story, filled with the authentic detail and flavor of traditional Korean kite fighting, brings a remarkable setting vividly to life. Awards |
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Seesaw Girl Jade never ventures beyond the walls of her family's Inner Court; in seventeenth-century Korea, a girl of good family does not leave home until she marries. She is enthralled by her older brother's stories about trips to the market and to the ancestral grave sites in the mountains, about reading and painting, about his conversations with their father about business and politics and adventures only boys can have. Jade accepts her destiny, and yet she is endlessly curious about what lies beyond the walls. A lively story with a vividly realized historical setting, Seesaw Girl recounts Jade Blossom's daring attempts to enlarge her world. Awards |
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