picture books

picture books

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“… an affect­ing sto­ry of Jennifer’s fears and joys when her Kore­an hal­moni, or grand­moth­er, flies from her peace­ful vil­lage to take part in a school Grand­par­ents’ Day pro­gram. … Hal­moni cap­ti­vates her audi­ence, as she will the audi­ence for this stel­lar debut.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Edna Coe Bercaw
Edna Coe Bercaw

author

“Illus­tra­tions under­pin the humor excel­lent­ly. Read­ers will want to revis­it this diverse and humor­ous Hal­loween-themed book for years to come.” (School Library Jour­nal)

Frances Cha
Frances Cha

author

Calde­cott Hon­or Book 2024. Brought to life with lav­ish and ornate illus­tra­tions, The Truth About Drag­ons fol­lows a young child on a jour­ney guid­ed by his moth­er’s bed­time sto­ry­telling. He quests into two very dif­fer­ent forests, as his two grand­moth­ers help him dis­cov­er two dif­fer­ent, but equal­ly enchant­i­ng, truths about dragons.

Han­na Cha

author-illus­tra­tor

Junior Library Guild Gold Stan­dard Selec­tion; Fall 2020 Kids’ Indie Next List

“Choi’s soft, warm car­toon illus­tra­tions add lev­i­ty to Binczews­ki and Econopouly’s win­some, pun-filled text and help illu­mi­nate not only the steps involved but also some of the sci­ence.” (Book­list)

Hayelin Choi
Hayelin Choi

non­fic­tion

illus­tra­tor

“Unhei’s reflec­tion and inner strength are note­wor­thy; cul­tur­al details fresh­en the sto­ry.” (The New York Times)

Yang­sook Choi

author-illus­tra­tor

Win­ner of the Morn­ing Calm Award, vot­ed by ele­men­tary stu­dents across South Korea (pic­ture book);  “Child actor Shadrick gives a charm­ing per­for­mance … nar­ra­tion is dra­mat­i­cal­ly flaw­less.” (ALA Book­list, audio­book)

Soma Han

author-illus­tra­tor

“Instant child appeal. Heo adds to the fun with her unique illus­tra­tions.” (Horn Book, starred review)

Yumi Heo
Yumi Heo
1964–2016

author-illus­tra­tor

“Smart, sub­tle, yet laugh-out-loud wit that will delight both chil­dren and adults, plus abun­dant car­toon­ing tal­ent, mark this stel­lar debut from a young author to watch.” (The New York Times)

Sarah Hwang
Sarah Hwang

author-illus­tra­tor

“Vin­tage-style dig­i­tal illus­tra­tions by Jang sup­ple­ment addi­tion­al details as the child ages: along­side “I’ll teach you words like ‘universe’/ as you begin to talk,” the par­ent is shown explain­ing a solar sys­tem mod­el to their tod­dler, who sits rapt with hands fold­ed atop the sun. A gen­tle affir­ma­tion for sci­ence-inclined kids and their par­ents.” (Pub­lish­ers Weekly)

Honee Jang
Honee Jang

illus­tra­tor

In this pic­ture book writ­ten by Fran­cie Dekker and illus­trat­ed by Sarah Jung, Our World of Dumplings cel­e­brates how food brings peo­ple and cul­tures together! 

Sarah Jung

author-illus­tra­tor

“This is a kind reminder that life gets messy, but team­work built on indi­vid­ual strengths can cre­ate a pic­ture-per­fect moment.” (The Bul­letin of the Cen­ter for Children’s Books)

“Kim’s exquis­ite art­work ren­ders dis­tinct per­son­al­i­ties and char­ac­ters rep­re­sent­ed by diverse skin col­ors and hair­styles, price­less expres­sions, and irre­press­ible ener­gy. An endear­ing and hope­ful expres­sion of spon­ta­neous fun and togeth­er­ness.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

Anna Kim

author-illus­tra­tor

Seol­lal: a Kore­an Cel­e­bra­tion of the Lunar New Year; Junior Library Guild Gold Stan­dard Selec­tion: “This joy­ful book about shar­ing age-old cul­tur­al cel­e­bra­tions with new friends cer­tain­ly is a must-have book for the New Year’s season.”

Aram Kim

author-illus­tra­tor

“An engag­ing, infor­ma­tive, and acces­si­ble biog­ra­phy with bright, invit­ing art­work about man who had a major impact on lan­guage and the mar­gin­al­ized cit­i­zens of his coun­try.” (School Library Jour­nal)

“An enchant­i­ng look at a child’s quest for belong­ing. … Kim’s mixed-media art is dynam­ic, sub­tly blend­ing real­ism with touch­es of whim­sy and lush nat­u­ral­is­tic detail. This under­stat­ed and cre­ative pic­ture book takes on the theme of being true to one­self and ends with the real­iza­tion that ‘there’s no place like home.’” (Horn Book Mag­a­zine)

Dan-ah Kim
Dan-ah Kim

author-illus­tra­tor

“A deli­cious read-aloud and per­fect rec­om­men­da­tion for every child, any day of the week.” (School Library Jour­nal, starred review)

Erica Kim
Eri­ca Kim

author-illus­tra­tor

“Lov­ing­ly ren­dered chalky illus­tra­tions bring to life this tale in a well-paced bal­ance of spot art and spreads … Shy human children—especially those who feel more out­go­ing in a famil­iar environment—will be reas­sured that they will most cer­tain­ly not be the only ones ner­vous about their first day of school. … Encour­age­ment for those who are exu­ber­ant, loud, and full of ener­gy … but only at home. (Kirkus Reviews)

Jaime Kim

illus­tra­tor

“Drawn and paint­ed in writ­ing ink, to show dif­fer­ent qual­i­ties of light, it’s aston­ish­ing to behold.” (The New York Times) “A word­less ode to the seren­i­ty of breath­ing deep in nature… A sim­ple yet mar­velous mus­ing on the beau­ty of the great out­doors.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) “The pages with­in show­case spec­tac­u­lar illus­tra­tions and, with­out a sin­gle word, gor­geous­ly reveal a sto­ry of fam­i­ly, nature and dis­cov­ery… a word­less pic­ture book mas­ter­piece.” (Shelf Aware­ness, starred review)

Kim Jihyun
Kim Jihyun

author-illus­tra­tor

“A Where’s Wal­do? for lovers of trains and trav­el, this look-and-find by Brook­lyn-based illus­tra­tor Kim takes read­ers into bustling sub­way sys­tems in 10 of the world’s great metrop­o­lis­es. At each “stop,” we first see the sub­way sta­tion plat­form and train, with facts and fig­ures about the trans­porta­tion sys­tem. Chil­dren will love search­ing for these beau­ti­ful for­eign items while indulging in the com­mon kid obses­sion over loco­mo­tives” (Book­list)

Uijung Kim

non­fic­tion

author-illus­tra­tor

Most peo­ple either can or can­not hear sound … but some peo­ple can do both! Meet a deaf boy with cochlear implants as he moves about his day. Some­times he prefers not to hear, but when he wants to con­nect with the hear­ing world, he puts on his cochlear implants. How could he explain to his hear­ing par­ents what the absence of sound is like? Sud­den­ly he has an idea—the best way he knows how to share this part of him with those he loves. With whim­si­cal, bright illus­tra­tions and lyri­cal words, Sound Switch Won­der is a sweet and gen­tle sto­ry about shar­ing and embrac­ing differences.

Illus­trat­ed in ink, water­col­ors, and col­ored pen­cil with some dig­i­tal editing.

Julie Kwon
Julie Kwon

illus­tra­tor

“An engag­ing father-daugh­ter STEAM sto­ry full of sup­port and sci­en­tif­ic inquiry.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Robert F. Sib­ert Hon­or book, Orbis Pic­tus Hon­or book, CCBC Choic­es, ALA Notable, Notable Social Stud­ies Trade Book, Junior Library Guild, Bank Street Col­lege of Edu­ca­tion “Out­stand­ing Mer­it” Best Book, Audiofile Ear­phones Award (audio book)

June Jo Lee
June Jo Lee

non­fic­tion

author

“A gen­tle sto­ry about con­nec­tion that will con­nect with read­ers of all ages.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

Hope Lim
Hope Lim

author

“Wil­low is a timid white rab­bit who prefers stay­ing home—an aban­doned mailbox—where it’s cozy and qui­et. There she sketch­es and dreams, but her com­fort­able rou­tine is inter­rupt­ed when a let­ter flut­ters through the mail slot one day. A warm and won­drous adven­ture for arm­chair, or high chair, trav­el­ers.” (Book­list, starred review)

Cat Min

author-illus­tra­tor

“Eye-catch­ing illus­tra­tions fea­ture expan­sive dou­ble-page spreads of the neigh­bor­hood shops, draw­ing read­ers in to explore each tiny detail. The pic­tures res­onate with love, com­ple­ment­ing the pre­dom­i­nant theme of fam­i­ly close­ness and the book’s casu­al diver­si­ty.” (The Horn Book, starred review)

ShinYeon Moon
ShinYeon Moon

illus­tra­tor

“Na’s whim­si­cal illus­tra­tions vibrant­ly con­vey the cacoph­o­ny present in many Cage com­po­si­tions. Employ­ing a vocab­u­lary of images (squig­gles, slash­es, lines) rep­re­sent­ing sounds and emo­tions iden­ti­fied on the end­pa­pers, Na clear­ly rep­re­sents the unique and exper­i­men­tal nature of Cage’s work. Many scenes por­tray cityscapes and crowd­ed con­cert halls. Blues and grays pre­dom­i­nate, although Na effec­tive­ly uses explo­sions of intense col­or to rep­re­sent some sounds.” (Book­list, starred review)

Il Sung Na
Il Sung Na

author-illus­tra­tor

“In this sub­tle, emo­tion­al­ly grat­i­fy­ing debut, Papa emerges as a dis­tinc­tive per­son­al­i­ty whose prepa­ra­tions make it clear that his granddaughter’s hap­pi­ness is just as impor­tant as his own.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, starred review)

Joowon Oh
Joowon Oh

author-illus­tra­tor

“This book is reas­sur­ing and respect­ful, and the art is ter­rif­ic, with an ever-chang­ing array of paint­ed teacups as we go through the pages.” (The New York Times)

Jiyeon Pak
Jiyeon Pak

author-illus­tra­tor

NPR Best Book of 2020; Powell’s Best Children’s Book of 2020; Pacif­ic North­west Indie Best­seller; Nation­al Indie Bestseller

Kenard Pak
Kenard Pak

author-illus­tra­tor

“…Trans­lat­ed from Kore­an, this beau­ti­ful fable explores the need for com­pan­ion­ship and the inevitabil­i­ty of death. With a mix of pan­els and full-page spreads, Lee’s loose, dig­i­tal art makes fan­tas­tic use of the for­mat, cap­tur­ing both the exu­ber­ance of the good times and Tiger’s grief. The nar­ra­tive is book­end­ed by an East Asian-pre­sent­ing elder who eager­ly tells the tale. A gor­geous­ly told sto­ry of the peo­ple who come into your life for a rea­son.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) 

Aerin Park
Aerin Park

trans­la­tor

“Cel­e­brat­ing the unique­ness of each boy and the “thou­sands of ways to be,” this col­or­ful title breaks con­ven­tions and presents all kinds of pos­si­bil­i­ties. … High­ly rec­om­mend­ed.” (School Library Jour­nal)

Christopher D. Park
Christo­pher D. Park

illus­tra­tor

Joan G. Sug­ar­man Award for Children’s Lit­er­a­ture; Par­ents’ Choice Award; Capi­tol Choic­es Book Award; Bank Street Col­lege Book Award; Junior Library Guild Selection

Frances Park, Gin­ger Park

authors

“sparkles with the promise of imag­i­na­tion and friend­ship” (Book­list)

Jane Bahk
Jane Park

author

This fun­ny sto­ry of a child’s jour­ney to dis­cov­er what it real­ly means to be a big girl explores the tra­di­tions of Kore­an Lunar New Year and the val­ue of fam­i­ly and helpfulness. 

Jungh­wa Park

illus­tra­tor

Win­ner, Lit­tle Brown New Voic­es, New World Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Fic­tion Con­test; Smith­son­ian Notable Book; Notable Children’s Trade Book in Social Stud­ies; Horn Book Mag­a­zine Best Hol­i­day Book

“In her grief, a child finds new mean­ing in a cher­ished activ­i­ty … The illus­tra­tors deft­ly lay­er shad­ows and blur bound­aries between col­ors, evok­ing the feel­ing of a warm mem­o­ry … A ten­der tale of loss and love.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Four authors tell their sto­ries, not just of the places they lived, but of the his­to­ry, cul­ture, and spir­it of their beings: where they tru­ly come from.” (Book­list)

Par­ents Choice Gold Award; “This is an impor­tant sto­ry, full of dra­ma and emo­tion and it is here giv­en its prop­er recog­ni­tion and trib­ute in both words and glo­ri­ous art. Per­haps it will encour­age oth­er grand­par­ents to share their fam­i­ly his­to­ry as well. Mas­ter­ful.” (Kirkus Reviews

Chris Soent­pi­et

author-illus­tra­tor

“Wang has craft­ed a lyri­cal gem of a sto­ry. Adopt­ing a child’s per­spec­tive, the author man­ages to make top­ics such as war­fare and loss of one’s home com­pre­hen­si­ble to a young audi­ence, while Cha’s bold strokes and splash­es of col­or con­vey move­ment and enhance the emo­tion­al weight of the sub­ject.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review); The Horn Book starred review; Junior Library Guild, Gold Stan­dard Selec­tion Book distinction

Poems about things we love to eat from A to Z, by diverse, estab­lished and new voic­es: Gail Aldous, Rebec­ca Bal­cár­cel, David Bowles, Sandy Brehl, Car­ol Bull­man, Yang­sook Choi, Kel­ly Con­roy, Nico­la Davies, Rebec­ca Kai Dotlich, Lin­da A. Dryfhout, There­sa Gaugh­an, Mary Lee Hahn, Geor­gia Heard, George Ella Lyon, JoAnn Ear­ly Mack­en, Elis­a­beth Nor­ton, Lisa Var­chol Per­ron, Jama Kim Rat­ti­gan, Joan Rior­dan, Pamela Ross, Don­na JT Smith, April Hal­prin Way­land, Vic­ki Wilke, Janet Wong, Jacque­line Wood­son, and Sarah Ziman.

“Each cel­e­bra­tion has its own spread, with soft pen­cil draw­ings. The art, while fol­low­ing one fam­i­ly as they cel­e­brate through­out the year, depicts char­ac­ters of many races and skin tones.” (School Library Jour­nal)

Dana Wulfekotte

author-illus­tra­tor

“A pleas­ing­ly uncom­pli­cat­ed intro­duc­tion to yoga that can also sim­ply be read as an invi­ta­tion to play. A cel­e­bra­tion of the ways that even young chil­dren can expe­ri­ence the wide world through their bod­ies as well as their minds.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Taee­un Yoo

author-illus­tra­tor

“Crisp illus­tra­tions that cap­ture a gen­uine­ly lov­ing heart … a strong if whim­si­cal choice for those sep­a­rat­ed from loved ones” (Kirkus Reviews)

Sali­na Yoon

pho­to by
Rox­yanne Young

author-illus­tra­tor

Appa is com­ing home tomor­row after a long time away, and sis­ters Hae­jin and Han­na want to make some­thing very spe­cial to greet his return. They spend the day prepar­ing their favorite treat―hotteok, a brown-sug­ar-filled Kore­an pan­cake. But when their bat­ter is ruined, how will they make some­thing spe­cial for tomorrow?

“Yum’s trade­mark col­ored pen­cil and water­col­or illus­tra­tions are full spread. Graph­ic place­ment is well done, allow­ing Yum’s art to cra­dle each piece. Peo­ple and places are diverse in artis­tic expres­sion, allow­ing read­ers to rec­og­nize them­selves in dif­fer­ent poems and increas­ing under­stand­ing for dif­fer­ent sit­u­a­tions.” (School Library Jour­nal) Edi­tor: Paul B. Janeczko

Hye­won Yum

author-illus­tra­tor