(3) K-3 Illustrated by Yangsook Choi. Thong's rhyming text describes the many items on offer during each season of the year at a Chinatown market. In springtime, for example, there are "oodles of noodles, / fresh and dried-- / try the ones with / egg inside." Choi's warm, heavily outlined illustrations, varied in composition, show a child visiting the market with different family members. Glos.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by Yangsook Choi. Chinese-born Ni Ni is Jimmy's next-door grandmother and best friend. Her jar of keys, literally keys to her past and present, are just one of the many links between them. When it's decided that the frail Ni Ni must move across country to live with her daughter, the boy is devastated. It's predictable that the change benefits both, but there's unusual warmth and depth in the story. Realistic drawings enhance the open, inviting format.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2003

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Yangsook Choi. Eight-year-old Jangmi prepares to leave Korea and move with her parents to Massachusetts. The lengthy text and detailed oil paintings capture Jangmi's heartache at leaving behind her beloved home, her best friends, and everything that is familiar. But on her first day in America, Jangmi makes a new friend, and while, realistically, she still feels sad, the book ends with hope for a happy future.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Yangsook Choi. After the 1906 earthquake and fire, a little girl and her family are forced to leave San Francisco's Chinatown and camp in Golden Gate Park. The spare but descriptive story is based on the author's mother's experience. Choi's dark paintings help convey the fear and chaos of the event for one Chinese-American family. An author's note adds further historical information.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Yangsook Choi. Gelman takes us through the cycle of planting, weeding, harvesting, and threshing the all-important rice plant in Bali. The simple text is informative and is accompanied on each double-page spread by a verse about one of the many animals (e.g., eels, dragonflies, mice, ducks) included in the rich ecosystem of a paddy field. The warm earth tones of the illustrations reinforce the theme of the book.

Reviewer:

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Yangsook Choi. In a spare narrative enhanced by festive, richly colored illustrations, a Chinese-Korean boy reflects on what Chinese New Year means to him. By sweeping last year's mistakes and bad luck out of the house, he hopes to make room for "a fresh start, my second chance." Concepts of renewal, starting over, and luck will resonate with young readers in this imaginative appreciation of the emotional aspects of the holiday.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2000

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Yangsook Choi. When Basket Weaver is ordered to weave a bed for the Empress's new baby, he worries that the Emperor won't find it good enough. The Emperor is delighted, however, when he discovers the weaver's cat, Catches Many Mice, inside the basket. The story, told in a formal folktale-like voice and accompanied by lush paintings of an unspecified Asian setting, chronicles the weaver's courage in asking for a just reward.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley