10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
visually all wrong - not Korean, August 7, 2001
This review is from: The King's Secret: The Legend of King Sejong (Hardcover)
I cannot believe my eyes. The author who has no clue about Korean culture and wrong illustrations ruins what could have been a wonderful story. At first, I thought it was a book about Indian culture. I am pretty upset that this is the second time this author has done this with different publishers. Her first one was so awful that it was written up as a book to avoid in the Asian American Librarian Newsletter. Vote with your money. Please skip this title. King Sejong is credited with invention of Korean letters. If you want authentic books try recommendations from Asia for Kids. If you are a Korean or Korean American, please write to the publisher. I am posting my comment to the Planet Feedback's website.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
When Tigers Smoked Long Pipes, August 11, 2006
This review is from: The King's Secret: The Legend of King Sejong (Hardcover)
"Long ago" this historical tale begins, "when tigers smoked long pipes and rabbits talked to dragons..." Well, you've got my attention.
Interesting. This is a fictionalized, mythologized history of an important event in Korean culture, the creation of a phonetic alphabet. This book, we are told in the adult-aimed afterward, is part fiction, part history, based on King Sejong, born in 1397, who ruled the Korean peninsula from 1418 to 1340. Carol Farley gives props to Frances Carpenter, an author who, in 1947, published the English version of the myth that Ms. Farley's book is based on. The creation of a phonetic alphabet is no small feat, it was actually quite a democratizing event. Prior to the Hangeul alphabet, only a small percentage of Koreans had the education to read and write, since it required a basic knowledge of 30,000 Chinese characters. Like most progressive movements, it had its opponents, Confucians who felt that literacy should be the privilege of only the elite, and some shamans of local folk religions taught that new ideas were displeasing to the gods. Imagine! Politically motivated religious leaders exploiting the superstitious beliefs of the uneducated to help them oppose advances that would benefit millions of people! Good thing those days are long over. (By the way, the Buddhists were mostly cool with it; they recognized the value of having religious writings that most people could read)
And guess what? It is illustrated by Robert Jew. This is amazing to me, as my wife's family is descended from the actual creator of Korea's Hangeul alphabet (a palace elder named Chong In-Ji), and I'm a Jew with a cousin named Robert. And he's Jewish too. The first letters of the opening five sentences are "L T T T K" which clearly stands for "Libman, Teach This To Kids." Also, the book is 18 pages, which is my family's lucky number. And, long, long ago, I once smoked a long pipe and spoke with dragons.
Seriously, I think this is an okay book, it's at least a way to teach the story to kids. Carol's story adds some young children in pivotal roles, to help kids feel engaged in the story. I sympathize with the complaints, that neither the author nor the illustrator are Korean, the story is told in an exoticized manner, and the illustrations lack authenticity. I guess they are drawn in that kind of pan-Asian style that is offensive if you know enough to pick up on it, but truthfully, not being Korean myself, I wasn't that aware of any specific inaccuracies in the drawing, such as dress and architecture as mentioned in other reviews, although I did have that tingly spidey-sense that the people in the pictures didn't actually look Korean. I imagined from the names of the authors that it was probably written from an outsider's perspective, I took it at face value as just a way to tell this historical story to children. I do agree that this betrays a condescending sort of dismissive, disinterested subtle racism, the kind we all absorb osmotically just living in our culture and not being critical and curious enough. There are lessons in that, and there are lessons, both obvious and subtle, in the historical tale being told, and at least the book does tell that story in a way that would interest kids. And it has a handy chart of the Korean alphabet on the back for beginners, so I don't know, mixed review.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
An insult to any thinking person, September 13, 2002
This review is from: The King's Secret: The Legend of King Sejong (Hardcover)
In today's global world, publishers and illustrators can no longer get away with this kind of laziness and disrespect. No one would publish a story book set in Russia or France and illustrate it with people, clothing and buildings that look all wrong. One reviewer's claim that there are no "research pictures of 15th century life in Korea" is both ignorant and false. There is plenty of historical record that speaks of the clothing, customs and architecture of the day. Ten minutes' rudimentary research would have revealed innumerable visual sources that might have informed this work, including Korean paintings from the 15th century with many depictions of the costume, architecture and other details of the time. Instead, it appears that Mr. Jew felt free to do no research whatsoever. Apparently he figured no one would notice or care. It appears he doesn't even know where Korea is, exactly, as the fauna is all wrong for a temperate zone. No wonder people think the story is set in India... the vegetation in this book is tropical.
Another commenter claims we shouldn't keep the book from children "just because the illustrations don't suit you." Actually, it's a disservice to children to read them this book. It's not that the illustrations "don't suit" me; it's that they are an insult to the people and culture of Korea, the purported subject of this book. We who object to the book do so out of respect to the children, not out of some baseless personal peeve.
Illustrations absolutely do matter. These are called PICTURE books for a reason. Children learn at least as much from the illustrations as they do from the text. They pick up myriad clues about places, cultures and historical eras not only from illustration details (which should therefore obviously be absolutely correct) but from the artist's choices of palette, materials and style. This book fails on every count. Vote with your dollars, please.
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