A young girl and her mother prepare for a trip to her mother’s homeland of Korea to visit relatives.  They first prepare for the trip by buying gifts; leather gloves for grandfather, “haraboji”, a picture book to learn English for her aunt, “Imo” and a ruffled apron for grandmother, “halmoni.” They traveled a day a night and another day to get to their relatives. They are happy to see one another and exchange gifts. The young girl learns the daily routines of her relative’s farm. She visits a market with her grandmother and learns to play a traditional card game called “hato.” Relatives give hugs when they meet and the girl and mother give hugs to them as they depart.

The illustrations by Boa jia are done in watercolor. The illustrations depict rural Korea. Each picture is framed with white borders as if matted for display.  Pages with only type have common objects found on Korean farms displayed beneath words. With the exception of clothing and electricity, many rural areas still look as they are depicted in the book. The story begins with the young girl and her mother in a bookstore in America. The colors of this picture are vibrant. Bright primary colors are used to show the vibrancy of the scene. As the story progresses, the illustrations have a more neutral background of yellows, browns, and beiges. Important images are brought to light by vibrant colors, which make them stand out from neutral backgrounds. The illustrator depicts the young girl and her grandmother at the market dressed in vibrant colors to help delineate the characters from the crowd filled background

The young girl is depicted as having cropped, bobbed, black hair, rosy pink cheeks and a light beige complexion. Her eyes are shaped slightly different from her relatives. The illustrator may have done this to show the authors biracial background of Chinese and Korean descent. Her grandparents are depicted with darker, more leather like skin from years of farming under the sun. Their faces are etched with lines of age. Clothing is depicted in both modern and traditional fashions.  Her grandparents wear more muted colors compared to her younger relatives. The young girl is shown in modern clothing throughout the book.

Homes are accurately depicted including the shape and pitch of the roof, which differs from various Asian countries. Traditional customs of drying persimmons on the roof and playing the card game hato are shown. The traditional heating of floors as well as a rural cooking stoves are accurately depicted. Drying peppers and persimmons as well as garlic are portrayed near the stove. These are common ingredients in many Korean dishes. This is a wonderful introduction to rural Korea and the many day-to-day activities that occur on a farm. The book reminded me of the many stories told by my parents about their upbringing in rural Korea.