Overview
A breathtaking picture book featuring a Korean girl and her haenyeo (free diving) grandmother about intergenerational bonds, finding courage in the face of fear, and connecting with our natural world. Dayeon wants to be a haenyeo just like Grandma. The haenyeo dive off the coast of Jeju Island to pluck treasures from the sea--generations of Korean women have done so for centuries. To Dayeon, the haenyeo are as strong and graceful as mermaids. To give her strength, Dayeon eats Grandma's abalone porridge. She practices holding her breath while they do the dishes. And when Grandma suits up for her next dive, Dayeon grabs her suit, flippers, and goggles. A scary memory of the sea keeps Dayeon clinging to the shore, but with Grandma's guidance, Dayeon comes to appreciate the ocean's many gifts. Tina Cho's The Ocean Calls, with luminous illustrations by muralist Jess X. Snow, is a classic in the making.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9781984814869
- ISBN-10: 1984814869
- Publisher: Kokila
- Publish Date: August 2020
- Dimensions: 10.1 x 10.1 x 0.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
- Page Count: 48
- Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Related Categories
The Ocean Calls
Journey under the sea in The Ocean Calls and discover the story of South Korea’s haenyeo.
Dayeon’s grandma is like a mermaid, exploring the ocean’s depths without an oxygen tank, then bringing abalones, octopus and other creatures to the surface. For Grandma and her fellow haenyeo, the water is home—a home she will teach her granddaughter how to find. But being a haenyeo is about more than seeking treasures beneath the waves; it’s a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. In the 1600s, South Korean women whose husbands were away in the military took on the task of gathering the king’s annual tribute of abalone. In 2016, the women known as “Korea’s granny mermaids” were placed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Author Tina Cho writes with clear reverence for the haenyeo and narrates with resonant simplicity and honesty. She infuses Dayeon’s fictional story with details about the haenyeo tradition and way of life. We see the haenyeo carrying their gear to the beach, practicing their diving breath, exhaling with a whistling sound called sumbisori and gathering after a dive in the bulteok, a communal space on the beach, their worn faces full of determination and pride.
Jess X. Snow’s illustrations are saturated with wide strokes of deep blues and purples, and their use of light is masterful as they transport readers below the waves to peer up at the sun on the water’s surface. Washes of color contrast with intricately drawn shells and fish to create a world so encompassing and vivid, I found myself holding my breath with each dive.
The Ocean Calls
Journey under the sea in The Ocean Calls and discover the story of South Korea’s haenyeo.
Dayeon’s grandma is like a mermaid, exploring the ocean’s depths without an oxygen tank, then bringing abalones, octopus and other creatures to the surface. For Grandma and her fellow haenyeo, the water is home—a home she will teach her granddaughter how to find. But being a haenyeo is about more than seeking treasures beneath the waves; it’s a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. In the 1600s, South Korean women whose husbands were away in the military took on the task of gathering the king’s annual tribute of abalone. In 2016, the women known as “Korea’s granny mermaids” were placed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Author Tina Cho writes with clear reverence for the haenyeo and narrates with resonant simplicity and honesty. She infuses Dayeon’s fictional story with details about the haenyeo tradition and way of life. We see the haenyeo carrying their gear to the beach, practicing their diving breath, exhaling with a whistling sound called sumbisori and gathering after a dive in the bulteok, a communal space on the beach, their worn faces full of determination and pride.
Jess X. Snow’s illustrations are saturated with wide strokes of deep blues and purples, and their use of light is masterful as they transport readers below the waves to peer up at the sun on the water’s surface. Washes of color contrast with intricately drawn shells and fish to create a world so encompassing and vivid, I found myself holding my breath with each dive.