Bee-Bim Bop! [Paperback]

Linda Sue Park (Author), Ho Baek Lee (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

A wonderful paperback picture book about the joys of family and food, from Newbery Award winning author Linda Sue Park.

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 narrartor is conveyed in the whimsical illustrations, which bring details from the artist’s childhood in Korea to his depiction of a modern Korean-American family. The book includes Linda Sue’s own bee-bim bop recipe!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2–In the tradition of Grace Lin's Dim Sum for Everyone! (Knopf, 2001) and The Ugly Vegetables (Charlesbridge, 1999), Park introduces preschoolers to the culinary culture of Korea. Playful, cartoonlike drawings portray a round-faced girl helping her mother shop and prepare a delicious meal in the kitchen. The illustrations, set against a white background, are very appealing. Each spread presents a detailed and busy kitchen scene enhancing the rhyming text. The name of the dish is delightful, and children will want to chime in on Hungry hungry hungry/for some BEE-BIM BOP! and variations on the catchy refrain. The verses contain many of the preparation steps and ingredients and some readers may have difficulty keeping the rhythm, but with a bit of practice, the rhyme works well. A recipe follows the story and in the author's note, Park explains that bee-bim bop means mix-mix rice. A fine addition to any collection, this book is a terrific way to introduce Korean culture to young children.–Be Astengo, Alachua County Library, Gainesville, FL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. Newbery Medal-winning author Park captures the exciting rush of dinnertime preparations in this picture book about a Korean family. A little girl is thrilled about what's for dinner--the Korean dish Bee-bim Bop--and she excitedly helps her mother select groceries and prepare the meal before Papa, the baby, and Grandmother gather for a short prayer and, finally, dinner. Park's brief, bouncy, rhyming text, with the refrain, "Hungry hungry hungry / for some BEE-BIM BOP!" perfectly echoes the frenzied speed of shopping and cooking, as well as the gleeful anticipation of a favorite meal, which most kids will recognize. Lee's watercolors extend the flurry of activity, humor, and delight in uncluttered spreads, many from a child's-eye view. Step-by-step descriptions will intrigue children who love learning about the process of putting a meal together. A recipe for Bee-bim Bop, with instructions for "you" and a "grown-up," closes this cheerful offering, which will partner nicely with the books in the adjacent Read-alikes, "Kids in the Kitchen." Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper; Reprint edition (November 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547076711
• ISBN-13: 978-0547076713
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Children's Books > Travel & Cultures > Explore the World > Asia
  • #20 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Explore the World > Fiction
  • #38 in Books > Children's Books > Cooking with Kids

More About the Author

Linda Sue Park is the author of the Newbery Medal book A Single Shard, many other novels, several picture books, and most recently a book of poetry: Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems). She lives in Rochester, New York, with her family, and is now a devoted fan of the New York Mets. For more infromation visit www.lspark.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious!, June 28, 2006

By 

Allison Calderwood (Beaumont, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bee-bim Bop! (Hardcover)

I am a first grade teacher and used this book while teaching my class about South Korea. My kids really enjoyed the fun rhyme and rhythm of this book, which I used to culminate our week-long unit. When I finished the story, we made "bee-bim bop" right in class! It was yummy, the kids loved it, and they were eager to read the book over and over again in our class library.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Book, August 9, 2006

By 

S. Smith "Happy Mama" (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bee-bim Bop! (Hardcover)

We lived in South Korea for a year when our children were smaller. We like to cook Korean food at home to help them remember our experiences there. I was thrilled to find this book. The rhymes are delightful, the pace is light, the illustrations are charming, and the recipe and instructions are wonderful! We've had so much fun as a family with this book. It's a keeper.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Catchy foodstuffs, February 22, 2006

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bee-bim Bop! (Hardcover)

As far as I can ascertain, Linda Sue Park does not sleep. I have good strong evidence for this. Since 2004 this woman has single-handed churned out more picture books, pieces of historical fiction, and fantasy novellas than any person dare count. She wins Newbery awards, brings Korean-American families to the foreground of kiddie lit and with "Bee-bim Bop!" the woman even has a storytime picture book to her name. This is no mean feat. Coming up with a storytime picture book is one thing. Coming up with a storytime picture book that is actually enjoyable to read aloud is another entirely. I was wholly within my rights when I looked on "Bee-bim Bop" with a skeptical eye. A person can only be good at so many things, and while I was a big ole fan of her, "The Firekeeper's Son", it may be a picture book but it's an entirely different breed altogether. "Bim-bim Bop!" is just your average getting dinner on the table type affair, but by the end of the story I wouldn't be entirely surprised if you find your small children begging for that tasty meal themselves. It does look delish.

The story, such as it is, follows a young girl and her mother on a shopping expedition. In rhyme the girl continually prods her mother along with lines like, "Hurry, Mama, hurry / Gotta shop shop shop! / Hungry hungry hungry / for some BEE-BIM BOP!". Back at home the two stir and fry, flip the egg pancakes, set the rice ah-steaming, and chop some garlic and green onions. This goes on with more and more ingredients cooked and added. The table is set with spoons and chopsticks, the family gathers, and it is finally suppertime. Everyone mixes all the ingredients together (the "bee-bim") and chow down on some yummy food. Park includes a recipe for Bee-bim Bop at the end. The cooking instructions are clever separated into the parts that "You" can do (like mixing together ingredients and pouring in the water) and the parts a "Grownup" will have to do as well. There's a rather nice if low-quality photograph of Linda Sue Park and her niece and nephew making this very dish at the end.

The book scans nicely and you won't find yourself tripping over syllables that are a bit too long or phrases that tie up the tongue. The illustrations are by one Ho Baek Lee. Mr. Lee lives in Seoul with his wife and started a children's book publishing company of his own there. His pictures are fine, but not particularly mind-blowing. They show what's going on with a kind of straightforwardness you would expect. There isn't an overabundance of Korean-American picture books out there, but as more and more get published you certainly get a sense that there's a need. Definitely read this book alongside other Korean-American food-centric picture books like, "The Have a Good Day Café" by Frances and Ginger Park. A nice book and a good storytime pick if you're looking for a food themed choice.