Waiting for Mama (English and Korean Edition) [Hardcover]

Tae-Joon Lee (Author), Dong-Sung Kim (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

Told in a few lines of text, this tender story was first published in a newspaper in 1938. This tale from Korea is universal--a small child waits for Mama at the station, asking the conductor if he has seen her. The conductor hasn't, but cautions the child to wait a little farther from the tracks. It is cold and snowy but the child waits patiently until finally Mama comes. In the last wordless spread, we see the small hand in a mother's firm clasp as they walk away from us. The art and text are so authentic, so real, that this book is best published in a bilingual edition that respects and honors those traditions. The Korean setting gives it special appeal to a growing demographic segment. The institutional market is especially hungry for bilingual books in languages beyond Spanish.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2—Originally published in a Korean newspaper in 1938, this slight story tells of a very young boy waiting patiently for his mother at her streetcar stop. He asks one driver after another if she is coming, standing alone in the cold as daylight dims and snow begins to fall. The last wordless spread shows a snow-covered village with the tiny, almost imperceptible figures of a woman and child walking hand-in-hand through the storm. Readers need to look carefully at this spread to find the pair; otherwise the story is baffling and tragic. The Korean text, written in Hangeul, is accompanied by the English translation, although many pages are wordless. The lovely new pastel-and-ink illustrations depict life of the period. Some are simple ink drawings on ivory pages; others fill the pages with color and texture. The contrast is very pleasing. Changes in perspective effectively create movement and involvement. The text seems secondary to the setting and the art. An afterword on various details in the pictures is included. A worthwhile addition for its multicultural interest and its striking illustrations.—Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME
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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: North-South Books; Bilingual edition (August 23, 2007)
• Language: English, Korean
• ISBN-10: 0735821437
• ISBN-13: 978-0735821439
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #796,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Allegory about a lost nation, March 26, 2010

By 

H. Haarhaus (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Waiting for Mama (English and Korean Edition) (Hardcover)

One should bear in mind the situation Korea went through when the story was published: At this time the Korean peninsula had already been occupied by Imperial Japan for over 30 years with no ending in sight (a rebellion had been put down brutally in 1919). Since 1905, the Japanese invaders were eager to erase any form of Korean traditions and assimilate the people to become second class Japanese. The Koreans had to take Japanese names and perform the Shinto rites. Korean was forbidden as an official language. Moreover, in 1938, Japanese began to compel Korean men to work in the factories located on the Japanese mainland and women as "comfort women" in military brothels.

The Korean intellectuals invented folk songs (e.g. Ommaya Nunaya - Mom Sis) and children stories in order to to circumvent censorship and demonstrate subtly the will of the people to sustain any hardship.

Seen in this light, the ending of the story is not so clear: Has Mom finally arrived to pick up her boy or is it just the boy`s dream? - Anyway, in Korean thinking snow is a symbol of hope.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Possibly cute, potentially upsetting for young children, October 5, 2009

By 

P. Heaphy (West Haven, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Waiting for Mama (English and Korean Edition) (Hardcover)

The inside flap of this story says (in part) "Told in a few lines of text, the tender story 'Waiting for Mama'...will touch the heart. A small child waits for Mama at the streetcar station...In the last wordless spread, we see the child's small hand in his mother's firm grasp as they walk away from us".

I am a preschool teacher constantly looking for sweet stories, especially those that all children can relate to. The fact that this one takes place in Korea, has very little text, and is translated in English AND Korean made me eager to purchase it. The pictures are attractive, subtle, soft, some pen and ink, and shown in varying views. The front cover shows the most adorable small child, clearly younger than the children in my preschool classroom, and I expected that he was waiting for Mama to come home, like many children must. However, being written in a different time and place, this small child is waiting on a streetcar station, alone, while MANY trains come and go, and the sky grows dark and eventually snows. THe artist does an amazing job of depicting the small forlorn child patiently waiting...and waiting...for Mama to come.

And as I skim through the pages (before reading this to the class) I cannot find the final victory picture of Mama's hand clasped firmly in her childs. I read through it again with the same result, and finally ask another teacher to see if this story does indeed have the happy ending I'm expecting! She finds it like a "Where's Waldo?" picture - the last picture is a 2 page spread from a birds eye view of the roof tops and alleyways. It is done in green and white to show the setting sun and falling snow, and there is a tiny Mama and child, more obscure than the snow covered roof tops.

I have not yet decided if I am reading it to my class, but I will be sure to emphasize that Mama does indeed come home. I strongly wish that had been made more obvious.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So cute!, April 7, 2010

By 

J. Kim (Elk Grove, CA, US) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Waiting for Mama (English and Korean Edition) (Hardcover)

Love this book! I especially love how there is both Korean and English text and can be read by myself and baby's grandparents. A simple, endearing story!