Where on Earth is My Bagel? [School & Library Binding]

Frances Park (Author), Ginger Park (Author), Grace Lin (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

No one knows how the idea of a New York bagel popped into Yum Yung's head -- perhaps it was inspired by a dream, or by listening to sparrows' songs. Yum Yung lives in Korea where there are no New York bagels, and one day he just knows he has to have one. This timeless fable will make readers giggle with delight and satisfaction as Yum Yung, with the help of his friends, fulfills his bagel dream. The tale illustrates the power of perseverance.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

K-Gr 4-Where on earth did Yum Yung get the urge to have a bagel? He has no idea, but desperate for one, he sends a message from his Korean village via pigeon to New York City for someone to send him one. While he waits, he asks the farmer, the fisherman, and the honeybee keeper for help, but none of them have ever heard of a bagel. Just after Yum Yung reaches Oh's Heavenly Bakery, the bird returns without a bagel, but with the recipe. The baker gets the required ingredients from the boy's new friends and makes one huge bagel. "It was so heavenly he could even taste the curious hole in the middle." With charming gouache illustrations that evoke the intricate and colorful patterns found in Korean fabrics, this story mixes up cultures quite nicely. Bagel shapes abound, including a full moon with a cloud providing the hole in the middle. Pair this story with Ina Friedman's How My Parents Learned to Eat (Houghton, 1984) for a fun program on foods in different cultures.

Bina Williams, Bridgeport Public Library, CT

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Lee & Low Books (September 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584300337
• ISBN-13: 978-1584300335
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 9.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,202,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars creating a bagel!, February 7, 2002

By 

Howard E. Aldrich (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Where on Earth is My Bagel? (School & Library Binding)

a delightfully simple book with a multi-cultural theme (korea and the usa)...about a little boy in korea wishing for a bagel (which he had never seen nor tasted) and how his community helped to create one and to share in its eating! very well-illustrated and written to be read over and over again.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, August 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Where on Earth is My Bagel? (School & Library Binding)

This book contains all of the perfect elements that make a good children's book. It has imajination as the impossible happens. It has repition as the same conversation happens as the main character meets new people. Children just love this as they can predict what is going to happen and can follow along easier. It ends by using parts gleaned from the rest of the story binding it together beautifully. The wonderful solid structure of an absolutely perfect children's book. Beautiful

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully illustrated book, February 2, 2002

By 

20YrTrader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Where on Earth is My Bagel? (School & Library Binding)

Lots of vibrant colours and a variety of interesting things on each page that hold my 2 year old's interest as I read her the simple,whimsical, and fun story that lends itself to the expansion of the child's mind and imagination. One of the better children's books out there.