The Rabbit's Judgement

I read this book to my class of third graders. This is a trickster-tale, of sorts, from Korea. The story is well stated and easy to understand and the illustrations are wonderful. Yumi Heo has a distinct style that is magical, primitive, and quirky. We loved it! And it was a definite bonus to have the Korean text too. Even if we couldn't read it- it set the story in a cultural context. What a little gem!

I stumbled upon this book at a local library and as my in-laws are Korean-American I bought it for one of my nieces. I think my sister-in-law liked it more than her daughter. My mother-in-law didn't recall this tale exactly, but said that stories of wise animals are quite common in Korea. The pictures are a little too primative for my taste, but I liked the story and the fact that it was bi-lingual, which is nearly impossible to find in any language, nevermind in Korean/English. The layout is nice with Korean on one side, English on the other. I bought another copy for a friend that just adopted a little Korean girl and for my own daughter. I've never been able to find anything else like it (except for the other book that Ms Han wrote also involving wise animals).