Review from WSJ

Wall Street Journal

July 27, 2013

 

Hyewon Yum depicts actual picture frames on the gentle pages of "This Is Our House" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 40 pages, $16.99), but with its sherbet colors and comforting domesticity, this picture book for small children stands in almost comical contrast to tales of swashbuckling. Here we are in total safety, in the brick row house where a little girl lives with her family. "This is the house where my grandparents arrived from far away," the child explains, as we see a framed drawing of the house in winter. Soon an infant arrives—a girl who will grow up to be the narrator's mother—as a lovely tree blossoms on the street outside.

As befits a book for the very young, this quiet chronicle moves in a circular way, like a literary hug. As the child explains the history of the house, from the kitchen ("where her mother made my mom's favorite soup") to the front steps ("where we sit in the sun on autumn days"), we see time passing, until a fresh cycle is complete and a newborn arrives to turn the young narrator into a big sister.

SLJ's review for This is Our House

School Library Journal

July 2013

 

YUM, Hyewon. This Is Our House. illus. by author. 40p. Farrar/Frances Foster. Aug. 2013. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-0-374-37487-7.

PreS-Gr 2–A girl describes her family history as it relates to her home: “This is the house where my grandparents arrived from far away….These are the front steps where my mom and her brothers played on warm summer days….This is the street where I learned to walk, just like my mom.” The snapshot quality of each statement is emphasized in the illustrations: each spread includes an informal slice-of-life scene as well as a framed picture of the relatives during that time. The cheerful pictures show a loving family enjoying life together, while seasonal changes and aging characters help show the passage of time. This is a story about nothing and about everything. There is no real plot or narrative, but it encompasses the lives of three generations. The intergenerational household may not be familiar to many modern American kids, but the idea of close family ties and treasured memories and places is universal. This quiet book could be an effective conversation starter about personal history at home or in the classroom.–Heidi Estrin, Congregation B’nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL

this is YOUR house?

When I was a kid, I always loved to hear  my father's story. My father  has these most  interesting stories and he could describe all the things as if it's just happened right before my eyes. Oh, how I loved it...
I could imagine the scenery so well because my father is one great storyteller and also we'd visited the house he grew up every year for holidays.
In that old house, I could see my father, a young boy, walking out of the house with his lunch box(containing only rice and salted beans) wearing his big brother's worn out pants, past the big old tree.
It was such warm moments when I realized that I stand in the same place where my father, once a boy, had grown up.

Now I have my own kids,  I read books to them before bedtime, but sometimes I love to tell my stories starting with "When I was a little kid like you..." and my kids loves it, too.
I wanted to make a book that can lead another stories, your own stories. I hope after you close the book "THIS IS OUR HOUSE", you can tell your own stories to your children.