Where’s Halmoni? by Julie Kim is not a traditional Korean folk story. I ignored it for a while because I was sick of old Korean stories being the only picture books available in English. I mistakenly judged a book by its cover.

Once again, the library opened my eyes. I skimmed the shelves, and the book caught my eye. Seeing the book in real life and realizing it was worthy of the library shelves compelled me to read.

The book is WONDERFUL. The book is edgy and adventurous, a modern twist on traditional Korean folklore. From the moment your fingertips open the front cover, the illustrations already engage the reader in the story. In a simple 6 picture blocks, I was already excited, “What the heck happened to halmoni?”

Halmoni reminded me of Sophia from the Golden Girls. Little old grandma with the big round glasses and white tightly permed hair. Spunky.

The book is creative and nostalgic about the stories I grew up with. Many of the elements inspired stories from my childhood – four of which I share below as reasons to read this book!

Note: I enjoy creating pictures & drawings for each post. They take longer to do than the text. I didn’t want to wait, so I’m posting the words first. The artwork will come soon!

Summary of Where’s Halmoni?

Noona (“big sister” in Korean, to a younger brother) and Joon (the younger brother) come to their Halmoni ‘s (grandmother in Korean). Yet Halmoni is nowhere to be found. Some clues to Halmoni’s disappearance are the remaining smells of her cooking, but no food, and big animal footprints leading to a closet door that hadn’t been there before.

Like the wardrobe of Narnia, the door leads to the outside of another world. Determine to find Halmoni, Noona, and Joon adventure out to search.

Like Alice in Wonderland – one can’t have enough literary references here – Noona and Joon encounter odd characters and interactions. They finally face their adversary and fight back to Halmoni’s house with wit and resourcefulness.

Reasons to Read Where’s Halmoni?

Very Izzi reviews books that spark stories. Everyone is a storyteller. I share books to inspire your own stories. Some of my favorite reasons to read Where is Halmoni? by Julie Kim.

1. Hangul

My favorite part of the book is how the author, Julie Kim, incorporated the Korean into the story. The hangul (Korean alphabet) is part of the illustrations and captures the emotion of the dialogue. The reader doesn’t need to read Korean to understand the story. The translations are provided at the end as a fun poster. 

Noona and Joon are Korean, but they are not fluent. They only pick up a few words and figure out the context as best they can. 

It is so relatable to me. I am Korean but not fluent. I am the best detective picking up clues of Korean words I know to figure out what people are saying.

My parents made me go to Korean school for 15 years. I’m still not fluent. I took Korean twice in college. I’m still not fluent. I’ve surrendered that I’m not good at languages. 

Growing up, Koreans criticized me as not being “hanguk sahlam” (Korean person) because I was not fluent. It didn’t matter where or how I grew up. I was expected to be fluent only because I was Korean. Koreans will also criticize Korean-American actors if they have a bad Korean accent on screen. 

It seems unfair. It’s tough for me to be fluent. I’m not good at language. I grew up in the US, my parents spoke English, and I didn’t have a lot of Koreans around me. It’s not an indication that I’m not proud of being Korean. 

I do understand sharing language is very special. I wish I could be fluent, but it’s hard for me.

Recently, I got to know a Korean friend who once asked me if I was fluent in Korean. I avoided speaking because she was the kind of person who always corrected me. I asked her why it mattered if we both could speak English. She said that because the experience was different, she wanted to relate to me more.

It softened me more to speak more Korean. Even if they annoyingly correct me all the time. I don’t correct their English; why are they correcting my Korean? I get it, though. Koreans are very proud of hangul. I am, too.

How has language brought you closer to others?

2. Adventure

It is adorable that Noona and Joon don’t hesitate to venture out into a new world through a closet door. Joon’s first comment is whether or not they should take off their house slippers now that they’re technically outside. Ha! 

I wondered how I would have reacted as a kid in that same situation? 

I was SO bored growing up. I envied the adventures of kids my age from books or movies, like Encyclopedia Brown or Gremlins or Out of This World. Why couldn’t I find a crime to solve? Or stumble across a hidden cave to explore? Or befriend an alien?

In the suburb I grew up in, there was this small piece of land called Hidden Valley. It was outside the residential houses behind the strip mall with Lucky’s grocery store. Maybe about an acre? I’m not sure what an acre is, but it’s what I imagined it would be. 

Hidden Valley was fenced, but the gate was always open. Looking back, I’m not sure it was open to the public. People went in and out anyway. Hidden Valley was hilly and had small roads and lots of shrubberies. I’m pretty sure it was a popular spot for mountain bikers or something. 

(Oh! I just Googled it, and it was a popular spot for bikers! It was public. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the land survived.)

Desperate for adventure, I’d walk through Hidden Valley pretending I was exploring. This was back when parents didn’t care where you went during the day. 

One day I walked down a hill and saw an unnatural clearing where a line of trees and bushes were interrupted. My heart skipped a beat, thinking I had found a mystery. 

I walked through the brush and heard running water. I thought, “I didn’t know there was a creek through here! How strange.” 

As I continued walking, I saw a clothesline with laundry hanging. Then a loud, wet cough. I turned and saw a man rolling around in a sleeping bag. 

!!!!!!!! I immediately turned around and ran back home. It turns out I wasn’t so bored that I wanted to risk my life. Heh. I’ll have my adventures through my books.

What adventures have you been on?

3. Grandmothers

Koreans often write about their grandmothers. Not only is the book and title dedicated to halmoni, but the story’s focal point is also the love for their grandmother. 

Halmoni herself doesn’t often appear in the story, but the small details at the beginning and the end of the book give a big impression of her character. 

It’s easy to find stories about my grandmothers. My simple one is the last time I saw my halmoni in Seoul. She waved goodbye to me in the car on the way to the airport. All of a sudden, she cried uncontrollably.

My aunts asked her why she was crying so much? She said she realized this might be the last time she would see us before passing away. It made her too sad. 

My grandmother is a big crier. It’s probably where I got it from. I cry when someone gets voted off American Idol. As if a life was about to end. 

We tried to calm her down, but she waved us off and told us to leave. That she would feel better once we were out of sight. We drove off as my tears started to well.

What is your grandmother’s story?

4. Korean Folklore

It’s not so much the case now, but only a few years ago, if I searched for Korean children’s books, the most that would pop up were Korean folklore. Not only were the stories told, but so were the illustrations. 

In Korea, picture books are beautifully illustrated, cleverly written, and edgy. I wanted to learn more and was frustrated that the best hadn’t been translated. It was a misrepresentation of Korean art. As if the only art Korea had to offer was “oriental.” 

I liked Korean folklore to an extent. I grew up with those books my parents bought me in the 1980s.  As an adult, I found them dull, uninspiring, and irrelevant.

Where’s Halmoni? broke the stereotypes I developed of Korean folklore. I had a narrow perspective. Author Julie Kim brought out the best parts of those traditional stories and brought them back to my life. I was reminded of how unique the stories are to Korean culture. 

In junior high, we had a writing exercise to re-write and modernize fables. One example they gave was Little Red Riding Hood. The story gets to the point when the wolf is about to jump out of bed and attack. Little Red Riding Hood takes a gun from her basket and shoots him. The End. 

Can you put a modern twist on a really old story? 

Book Details

Published by Little Bigfoot | October 3, 2017 | 96 Pages | 8 x 10 inches | ISBN 9781632170774 | Washington Children’s Choice | Picture Book Award

Where to Read Where’s Halmoni?