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.

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz

As Halloween approaches, Kimin's mother suggests that he might find something for a costume among his grandfather's boxes. Kimin has mixed feelings about his grandfather, recalling that once on a visit to him in Korea he had been terrified by him. As Kimin goes through a box of photos, he sees some of masked dancers performing. In another box, he finds costumes and masks, including the one his grandfather must have been wearing when he frightened Kimin. Dressing as a mask dancer for Halloween gives Kimin a chance to reconnect with both his grandfather and his Korean heritage. It also enables him to inform his friends about it. The full-page paintings illustrate aspects of the descriptive text. There is an innocence in the representations stripped bare of details, so that we focus on Kimin's involvement with the masks. The one he chooses to wear, with big black eyes and bushy white beard and eyebrows is a bit frightening, dominating the story from the jacket/cover, while other masks fill the end-papers. Choi is inventive in creating the costumes of the other children as well. A note adds information on the traditional Korean mask dance.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2-When his friends ask him what he will be for Halloween, Korean-American Kimin tells them that he will be his grandfather. The children don't think that it will be very exciting to dress as an old man, but the boy knows better. Before he died, his grandfather had been a famous mask dancer in Korea, and Kimin has two boxes of costumes, photos, and memorabilia from his career. He picks a mask that had scared him years before when he had visited his grandfather and shows his friends some dance moves as they go trick-or-treating. The children go to his house and all end up dancing and looking at the beautiful masks. The illustrations in muted fall colors enhance the story beautifully, and include endpapers with the stylized masks depicted. This is an evocative look at a Korean tradition and an interesting intergenerational and multicultural story for Halloween.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Just before Halloween, while looking through his late grandfather's things, Kimin recalls a time in Korea, when, late at night, he saw his grandfather, his face grotesque and distorted. Now he finds photographs of his grandfather as a professional dancer, as well as his robes and masks, and realizes that he only saw his grandfather in costume. Since Halloween is a time to honor the dead, Kimin decides to dress as his grandfather. He dons the robe and mask and impresses all of the neighborhood children, who don't recognize him. Tragedy strikes when the mask falls and is damaged, but this leads to Kimin's discovery of a note from his grandfather. Kimin's understanding mother helps him realize that his grandfather would not be angry, and together, he and his mother hang all of the masks in the house to commemorate his grandfather. A note about talchum, Korean mask dance, follows the story. A unique look at Halloween, this is a comforting story about death and some of the traditions of Korean culture. (Picture book. 5-8)

From the Publisher

"Satisfying. Choi's text-and-image layouts and cross-generational subject matter recall Allen Say's work on heritage." —Publishers Weekly "A unique look at Halloween, this is a comforting story about death and some of the traditions of Korean culture." —Kirkus Reviews "An interesting fusion of cultures in a story appealing to children." —Booklist "The . . . story of a tentative, solitary boy who makes the shy person's great discovery: put on a mask and you are liberated into sociability. . . the old man and the tuna dance down the road and into friendship." —The New York Times Book Review "An evocative look at a Korean tradition and an interesting intergenerational and multicultural story for Halloween." —School Library Journal