Yunmi and Halmoni's Trip fills a void in the "ethnic" children's book field. Beautifully illustrated and tenderly written, it's a great book to read to your kids or even for yourself. There aren't many childrens books about Koreans and Korean-Americans, so this book is a must for your bookshelf. It's for anyone who wants to read about a loving and understanding relationship between grandmother (halmoni) and granddaughter (Yunmi).

I had to read this book for a college Children's Literature class and loved it! My father served in the Korean war but I never knew much about all that happened during this tumultuous time. Sook Nyul Choi does a superb job of transferring the reader back to Pyongyang, North Korea. You feel like you are there watching the chaos hit, as if it was your own family. It is one of the best books that I have ever read and makes me want to read more about Korea and it's people. I would recommend this book to children and adults. Teachers this is a must and a great way to teach Korean War history. The student's will always remember this book!

Year of Impossible Goodbyes is a very moving book that has been a favorite to all the people I know who have read it. Although I have only read it about three times, I already consider it to be my favorite book. It shows the terrible acts the Japanese did to the Koreans during World War II and it shows everything throught the eyes of an eleven-year old girl who wishes that everything would be okay and her family could be together without the creulty of war. I did a book report on this book this year for one of the hardest teachers I have ever had and I could have made it 20 pages long if I wanted, but it was only allowed to be 3 pages. So, I had to try to capture the full meaning of the story in a short paper. I'm happy to say I aced it and I wish to read more books written by Sook Nyul Choi and have already read the sequel, Echoes of the White Giraffe and I conclude that they are both novels about how the love for your country, friends, and family can keep you going after even the worst things happen.

I first read this book in the middle of fifth grade (I am going into sixth right now). From the very beginning, I knew I'd love it. It was about a Korean girl living toward the end of World War 2. Then when the war finally ends and the Koreans are free from the Japanese, Korea is divided by the 38th parallel. Sookan and her family are living in Russian Communist controlled North Korea and they have to get to American controlled South Korea. Will they make it? This book is very exciting yet very moving also. I think it is good for both young and old. I have re-read the book twice, and all times I thouroughly enjoyed it and each time I got more out of it. This book is great.

-Helge Schultz

Echoes of the White Giraffe, by Sook Nyul Choi is a sequel to Year of Impossible Goodbyes. The theme of this book is about refugees and what their lives are like in a different place. This book focuses on the main character Sookan who is again separated from her father and brothers. The book mainly explains about Sookan's refugee life in Pusan and how she adapts and meets new people in a strange and foreign place. I personally liked the other book, Year of Impossible Goodbyes better because it was more adventurous and exciting but this book was pretty fun also. It talked a lot about her first romance and how she lived as a refugee for two years.

This book is the BEST I've ever read! Well this and the book before it, The Year of Impossible Goodbyes. When you read it, it's like your actually there.. feeling the same thing the main character (Sookan) is. You'll read about everything she wishes and her thoughts and the horrible things she goes through. You might find it hard to believe at how she finds the most simple things, and enjoy it. She does all she can to enjoy life. This is a book I have really really really really enjoyed..

And recommend it to everyone!

It is a touching novel like the ones before and after it. You have to read A Gathering of Pearls to complete the set. The title of the book matches very well with its story. The set of books let you relieve a war and its affect on one family and kid. I recommend it for a reading project or anything for history.

Perhaps the best aspect of this book is the obvious love between Yunmi and her Halmoni (grandmother). When Halmoni makes kimbap (a labor-intensive traditional Korean food), it is a labor of love for the Korean-American granddaughter she does not always understand. When Yunmi calls hello to her teacher on the street, Halmoni worries that her granddaughter is showing disrespect. In Halmoni's time and culture, a little girl should not attract a teacher's attention. In Yunmi's society, such a greeting is not only respectful but friendly. Although Halmoni's sadness is resolved a little too easily (is it realistic that small school-children would happily eat seaweed?), the children's innocent acceptance and validation of Halmoni is a beautiful example to other Korean-American families struggling to fit into predominantly Caucasian America. A little girl learns to be proud of her grandmother and heritage.

The text and illustrations are good, I think books such as these are hard to come by. Rarely is there a book which deals with generation/culture gaps as well as My Halmoni and the Picnic. It was sensitive, touching and very rewarding to read. Whether one is Korean or not, the book weaves the importance of the relationship we as people should have with our grandmothers (or grandfathers) and how much we can learn from the wisdom and experience.

I disliked this book because there was no action. In my opinion this book was very boring. The author gave the most detail when she was talking about Sookan's studying, and that wasn't very interesting.It was also kind of sad. The book didn't really have an ending. You had to think hard to realize what the author meant. I liked this book because what happened in the story could happen to any foreign exchange student. The author gave her thoughts and views on the character's predicaments. She included parts of Sookan's story even when she was off campus. When Sookan was baby-sitting her professor's kids she gave detail about what happened. She also gave a lot of detail when she explained her friend's problems. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read. If you like books with action you shouldn't read Gathering of Pearls. I think girls will enjoy this book more because all of the main characters are girls. If you don't like sad books you shouldn't read this. This book left you wondering what it would be like to be in the main character's shoes.

I rated this book four stars because it was a good book and kept my interest, but it wasn't my favorite book ever. I really enjoyed Gathering of Pearls because it was about a girl in college, and it helped me to see what college will be like. Recently, I've been looking up some information on the Internet about the college that I'm planning to go to. I also am thinking about which dorm I want to live in, and all of its fees. This book held my interest well because it told me more about the hardships of college life and what college life is like. It also told me what dorms are like.

There aren't really any other books that I know of that are similar to this one in any way, but I'm overall interested in Fiction and Fantasy books. I was surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did since it was more real-life than anything. This book is a sequel to Year of impossible Goodbyes and Echoes of the White Giraffe. Year of Impossible Goodbyes won a Judy Lopez Award and was chosen as an American Library Association Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults. The author of these books, Sook Nyul Choi, also made a picture book titled Halmoni and the Picnic.

This book is mainly about a girl named Sookan who is a foreign exchange student from Korea. She goes to a college in New York City, and finds out how different life in the United States is from Korean life. Sookan struggles with an internal and external conflict. She doesn't know if she should act Korean and keep Korea's ways or give up all of that and act like Americans. She is afraid that of she becomes to American-like her family will be dissatisfied with how she has become. Sookan finds that she is becoming more American-like and scolds herself for not following the Korean ways enough. Her external conflict is that she overworks herself with all of her subjects and gets a serious lack of sleep since she studies so much. She would stay up many hours into the night and study, sleep a few hours, and wake up early to study more. It's very interesting how she fights through all of her difficulties, so I would definitely recommend this book to teenagers interested in college and/or becoming a foreign exchange student in the future.

I don't like to write reviews, usually, but I'm breaking the rule because this is such a great trilogy and deserves its five stars, not its two or three from .... These books have depth and the author writes above average and a true book of fiction will ferret you out of your world and into theirs and this one does enjoyably.

This is a quality book which accurately describes the feelings little ones may have when a new sibling arrives. It is also an appropriate way for children to discover that persons of other cultures often experience the same feelings as they do. Well-written and smoothly delivered, this is a good selection for libraries and families alike.