Hyewon Yum's Blog, page 5

Greater Good magazine

 https://apple.news/ASUf_slgvStGgqju6rpR8bQ

Puddle, by Hyewon Yum

On a rainy day, a boy is upset because he can’t go out to play. He is determined to stay in a bad mood and rejects the idea that he could possibly have fun indoors. But when his mom starts drawing, he can’t help but get curious. He starts to give input, and together they collaborate and create a fun rainy-day scene. They decide to turn their imaginative scene into reality and venture out to play in the rain themselves. This “I’m bored” story encourages creativity and collaboration.

Clever Little Witch, by Muon Thi Van and Hyewon Yum

This fanciful tale is about a big sister, Little Linh, who wants her little brother, Baby Phu, to get lost after he incessantly annoys her. She comes up with a transformative plan to help them get along—but is this clever idea the solution she really hoped for, after all? Clever Little Witch explores the nearly universal experience of sibling conflict and humorously entertains children’s capacity to problem-solve with magical thinking. Children are invited to discover that while siblings can be exasperating at times, their redemptive qualities shine through when you least expect it, and remind you how precious these relationships can be.

NYT review

  I AM A BIRD

Written by Hope Lim
Illustrated by Hyewon Yum

“I fly like a bird on Daddy’s bike,” the narrator joyfully croons as we watch father and daughter whizz through a coastal, colored-penciled town. “CA-CAW!” she calls, and “the birds sing back.” We smell the sea air and feel the salty breeze. Suddenly she spies “a woman with a blue coat and a big bag … walking very fast,” and clutches her dad’s sweatshirt, as gouache graffiti demons appear on a wall and a graphite shadow joins the gray-haired figure like an evil twin. Yet there she is one day in the park, “whispering a song to the birds!” Lim’s text and Yum’s art soar as the two “see” each other at last.

WSJ review!

 Paying attention to the small things in life has become something of a national pastime during the pandemic. Bruce Handy honors the quiet fluctuations of childhood days in “The Happiness of a Dog With a Ball in Its Mouth” (Enchanted Lion, 56 pages, $18.95), a picture book with beguiling colored-pencil illustrations by Hyewon Yum. The book toggles back and forth between moments: “The indignity of a cut” on a skinned knee gives way to the satisfying “happiness of a scab.” A little later, we see a child splayed out on a chair, face upturned with exasperation and ennui: “The boredom of nothing to do.” On the facing page, the same child lies spread-eagled and beatific on a picnic blanket: “The happiness of nothing to do.” In topic and rhythm this wonderful book brings to mind Ruth Krauss’s 1952 classic, “A Hole Is to Dig,” illustrated with sturdy, tumbling little children by the young Maurice Sendak. But “The Happiness of a Dog With a Ball in Its Mouth” has a restful and contemplative quality that makes it, this year especially, feel like just the thing for 3- to 8-year-olds and their families.

Grandpa Across the Ocean review

 The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books:

Yum, Hyewon Grandpa Across the Ocean; written and illus. by Hyewon Yum.

Abrams, 2021 [40p]

Trade ed. ISBN 9781419742255 $16.99

E-book ed. ISBN 9781647003128 $15.29

Reviewed from digital galleys    R 3-6 yrs

Our young protagonist and his mother are off for a whole summer’s visit with his grandpa, who lives across the ocean in a place where everything “smells strange.” The visit starts off badly, since the two can’t really communicate and “Grandpa’s house is the most boring place on earth.” Soon, though, the two are connecting; the boy learns some Korean, they discover their commonalities (a love of chocolate and of goofing around on the beach), and by the time the summer ends, Grandpa’s place “feels like home” and the boy can’t wait for next summer. This kind of cross-cultural cross-generational relationship is popping up in picture books more often (Yee’s My Day with Gong Gong, BCCB 11/20, and Lê’s Drawn Together, BCCB 6/18); this version is particularly gentle and patient, allowing a whole summer’s worth of bonding to believably happen while compressing events sufficiently to retain interest. Colored pencil illustrations have an appealing childlike touch in their scrawled textures, and they glow with summery color, with lots of sunny orange and picturesque ocean blues. The boy’s poses tell much of the story, from his initial reluctant dragging behind his mother to his closing all-encompassing hug with Grandpa. Use this to prepare kids for their own visits with faraway grandparents or just to demonstrate how an initially strange place can turn to home. 

 

from Booklist

Grandpa across the Ocean.

By Hyewon Yum. Illus. by the author

Apr. 2021. 42p. Abrams, $16.99 (9781419742255). PreS–Gr. 1 

A little boy is taken “across the ocean” to visit his grandpa in Korea, where everything is unfamiliar. Left alone together, the two appear to have no connection. The boy finds his grandpa’s house boring, so he starts kicking a ball around to entertain himself, which leads to an accident when a flowerpot breaks. This seems to spark an awareness in Grandpa that he needs to interact with his grandson. They both make an effort, and as things improve, it turns out that the two have lots of things in common after all. Yum’s (Lion Needs a Haircut, 2020) cheerful colored-pencil illustrations mirror the text, with facial expressions adding a layer of emotion as the relationship builds toward a happy conclusion. This is a simple story with an important message that young readers and their caregivers will appreciate: take a little time, make a little effort, and all will be well.

Grandpa Across the Ocean review from Kirkus

 

GRANDPA ACROSS THE OCEAN 
Author: Hyewon Yum
Illustrator: Hyewon Yum
Pages: 40
Price ( Hardcover ): $16.99
Publication Date: April 27, 2021
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-1-4197-4225-5

A summer spent in Korea with Grandpa provides growth for a little Korean American child.

A little black-haired Asian child wheels a blue suitcase through the city, craning to take in the new sights and sounds of a foreign land. This is where Grandpa lives. “It smells strange. It sounds strange.” With a sad face, the child tries to adjust to this new place, giving a firsthand account of trials suffered. When an accident caused by frustration and boredom surprises both grandfather and grandchild, there is a reckoning of sorts. Guilty feelings on both sides lead to new behaviors. This kid is possibly the same child from Yum’s previous title Puddle (2016), and the theme of overcoming cranky behavior repeats as well. With the same warmhearted care, the child is helped through the adjustment of having a relationship with a loving relative who lives across the ocean. Illustrated with colored pencil, the scenes are light and filled with patience and love. The grandfather is frequently shown at the same eye level as the child, highlighting the importance of physical connection. An effort is made to translate simple Korean words to English, and many will recognize the awkward feeling of understanding a different culture. Hopefully, readers will appreciate the importance of an affectionate relationship between grandparent and grandchild. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 29.8% of actual size.)

A reminder that love and attention can bolster relationships separated by time and distance. (Picture book. 3-8.)

Kirkus review

 THE HAPPINESS OF A DOG WITH A BALL IN ITS MOUTH

Happiness offsets harder feelings.

A child with brown skin and puffy brown hair lies asleep. “The slowness of two eyes opening,” reads the text; eyes open, the child rises in cheerful daylight to greetings from two dogs and “the happiness of a new day.” Handy’s exploration of emotions that proceed into happiness is a grab bag. It’s nonlinear (can be opened anywhere); the multiracial cast of characters hold no especial connections with each other; and the prehappiness modes vary between moods and situations. “The fear of leaping. / The happiness of having leapt”—feet on a diving board, then a child excitedly suspended midair above the pool—juxtaposes negative and positive feelings in a fairly traditional manner. Readers will thrill to a spread about peeing and another about the critical difference between hearing no and saying no. However, stillness, distance, and self-sufficiency are pretty neutral; when a bird experiences “The stillness of a perch. / The happiness of flight,” the stillness doesn’t seem inferior, creating a question—what do these juxtapositions mean? Enter Yum’s watercolor-and–colored-pencil illustrations, airy and light, with soft pencil shadings everywhere for comfort. “The self-sufficiency of a cat in the morning. / The happiness of a cat in the afternoon” is mystifying as a pairing of opposites, but Yum’s pale sunlight and cooling shadows—first on a windowsill, then spilling over the blissful cat on the floor—override any conceptual confusion with beauty.

A contemplative exploration, with illustrations that carry readers past puzzlement. (Picture book. 3-6)

A starred PW review

 

Starred review from Kirkus

  

[image error]I AM A BIRD [STARRED REVIEW!] 
Author: Hope Lim
Illustrator: Hyewon Yum

Review Issue Date: January 15, 2021
Online Publish Date: December 25, 2020
Publisher:Candlewick
Pages: 32
Price ( Hardcover ): $16.99
Publication Date: February 2, 2021
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-1-5362-0891-7
Section: Children's

True understanding comes from a willingness to look deeper.

In an idyllic seaside community rendered in soft colored pencil and bright paint, a young child flies to school on the back of Daddy’s bike. Both present Asian. Arms stretched wide, the child expresses joy and exclaims, “I am a bird.” Singing an exuberant bird song—“CA-CAW! CA-CAW!”—the smiling and waving narrator spreads happiness along the way. Along their route, passersby smile and wave in return, and even the birds sing back. One day, the child spots an older, White woman in a blue coat and carrying a big bag; she is walking past a mural painted with toothy animals and does not wave and smile. The predatory animals depicted in the mural openly gape at the woman throughout the story, manifesting the child’s growing dislike as they see her again, day after day. Soon, the child’s bird song stops whenever the woman is spotted. One day they are running late, and the child does not see the woman until catching a glance of her in a park. She is surrounded by birds, whispering her own bird song, and the child has an epiphany. In the final double-page spread, the child and woman reflect each other with raised heads and closed eyes, as they find they are the same: “We are birds.” The soft, textured illustrations expertly pair with the understated text and its beautifully simple, implicit message to look closer before jumping to conclusions. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.1-by-19.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 25.2% of actual size.)

A gentle story about connection that will connect with readers of all ages. (Picture book. 4-8)

I Am A BIRD BCCB review

 Lim, Hope I Am a Bird

illus. by Hyewon Yum. Candlewick, 2021 [32p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781536208917 $16.99 Reviewed from digital galleys  R 2-4 yrs

 

A little girl rides in the seat behind her father as they bicycle through town, and she sings like a bird as they go. She loves to wave at the people that they pass, but she’s disconcerted by a very focused woman who doesn’t respond. Day after day, the girl ruminates on the lady, despite her father’s cheerful reassurance (“She’s just a lady taking a walk”). Then one day they see her in the park, feeding and singing to the birds, and the little girl recognizes a kindred spirit; the two exchange bird calls, and the little girl is ready to fly again now that she’s made a friend. Lim’s simple, heartfelt narration deftly captures the perturbation kids can develop around an adult who seems unfriendly, and there’s enough amiable reassurance to counterbalance the sympathy. Yum’s softly textured colored pencil and gouache illustrations capture the airy freedom of a zippy bike ride through a lovely seaside Korean (judging by store lettering) town. She’s particularly good at small, telling details, like the way our protagonist grabs a handful of her daddy’s jacket or peers around to experience the town in an entirely different way than her pilot. Kids who’ve had their own encounters with hard-to-slot adults will appreciate the validation and the encouraging outcome.  DS