- Overview
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This original Korean tale is set in the Jeongseon five-day market, one of Korea's largest traditional outdoor markets.
- Book Intro
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Sora visits her grandmother in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, together with her father who has recently lost his job. To encourage her dad and cheer him up, she decides to sell their homegrown vegetables in the outdoor market, without telling the grown-ups. Her grandmother, for her part, also steals out to the Jeongseon market to sell mountain herbs and plants, to help her son. There, however, she gets into an argument with a customer about where the herbs are actually from. Sora steps up to help her and break up the fight, but the incident leads her uncle, the president of the local merchants' association, and her father, to try to find a solution. Will Sora's family figure out what to do?
Through this book, set in the context of the Jeongseon local market, the author portrays contemporary issues such as the fading values of traditional markets, early retirement, interracial marriage, the controversy surrounding food origins, and more, in a relevant, resonant way.
- About the Author
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Han Young-Mi
(English) Thanks to her elementary school teacher who loved to tell stories during their breaks, Han Young-Mi gained an early appreciation for children's books and later went on to study Korean literature while at university. She writes children's stories based on the beautiful memories she had playing among the trees, flowers, and wind in the rolling hills and fields of her childhood. In 2010, she received the Nunnopi Children's Literary Award grand prize in short fiction, and in 2011, she received the MBC Korean Children's Book Award for long prose fiction. Her works include The Child with a 40,000-Year-Old Secret, Come Come Rap Come Come Songs!, The Lord of Leaf Castle, Boomerang, We Order A Family for You, Dreams on Hanji Paper and more.
(Japanese) 2010年ヌンノピ児童文学賞短編童話部門大賞、2011年MBC創作童話大賞長編童話部門大賞、2013年アルコ文学創作基金を受賞しました。
これまで書いた本は『葉っぱ城の城主』『ブーメラン』『冬至、行こう！』『私はシュガルだ』「『パンパン受けるギャグノート』『みみずく防具箱』などがあります。
Jo Yunju
(English) Cho Yoonju majored in crafts at Dongduk Women’s University. Her passion for the pure dreams and creative imagination of children led her to illustrate children’s books. Some of her illustrated books include Manual of How to Use Mother, Secret Ghost, and A Thief’s Classroom.
