Synopsis
Halloween is coming. “What are you going to be?” the children ask one another. Kimin says he will be his grandfather. “Going as an old man is not very scary,” they tease. What the children don’t know is that Kimin’s grandfather was a Korean mask dancer. And Kimin doesn’t know that the mask holds a secret for him.
With vibrant illustrations, Yangsook Choi joins Korean and American folk traditions in her story about a boy who finds a link to his grandfather, behind the mask.
Publishers Weekly
Korean theater traditions meet American Halloween customs in Choi's (Peach Heaven) satisfying tale. When Kimin gets ready to choose a trick-or-treat costume, his mother brings him two red boxes from his late grandfather, "a famous dancer in Korea." Kimin feels ambivalent because his grandfather once startled him with a white-eyebrowed, white-bearded face. But inside the boxes, he finds family photos and the "gruesome" face-a stylized performance mask. This discovery transforms Kimin's negative memory and becomes a perfect Halloween outfit, although it gets a little scuffed. Choi's text-and-image layouts and cross-generational subject matter recall Allen Say's work on heritage. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.