As a practicing artist as well as a teacher candidate, I appreciated this book not only for its lovely story from long ago, but also for the outstanding illustrations. The pictures make this book completely. If other forms of pictorials had been used, I would not have been captured by the text alone. The tale is a beautiful legend adapted wonderfully for use as a teaching tool. I found the book outstanding for teaching double-lettered words, as the book is chock full of them. However, I did question some content that would be in need of explanation. Due to the culture location of where the story was read, the reader may not have understanding as to what exactly what a persimmon was, thus putting themselves in the living predicament of the tiger in the story itself. A definite must for a regular classroom, as well as for use in art.

Like I said, this book is really easy to read and the stories are short so you would not have to spend too much time on it. The stories can be read at leisure and are really interesting. The stories like Fountain of Youth and the Vanity of the Rat are popular stories and this book contains about 64 stories to read. I reccomend this book for readers who love korean culture and their folk tales.

Having had Korean food in New York City, I looked everywhere for a good, comprehensive Korean cookbook. Korean food is a revelation if you've never had it, perfect for a cold winter night. Believe me, friends, this you want to try at home. I finally found this book, and I was pleased with the number of recipies it includes.

But on closer reading, I saw that the recipies seem somewhat simplified compared to a few other Asian recipe collections I have. (Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook is THE BIBLE of Asian cooking; that's what I'm comparing to.) Also, it looks like the quantities of cayenne pepper has been reduced, no doubt to cater to Western tastes.

This book was written in the 1970's, before Americans got real adventurous in their kitchens and accpeted the use of chilies in their food, so I can forgive this toned-down version of Korean cuisine. But by all means, if you are interested in a wide ranging collection of Korean recipies, and I have no doubt they are authentic, this is a good volume to own.

And if it's too bland for you, just toss in more cayenne pepper. It can't hurt...

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).