Slippery, spicy, tingly A kimchi mystery

Active grandmother Halmoni interrupts her busy schedule to spend time with her grandchild in this humorous culinary mystery. When Halmoni--a lively "super senior"--arrives to make special kimchi, her grandchild Keo believes that she actually "cared about other things, not me." After telling Keo "you are my treasure," she doesn't seem to make kimchi but instead buys and washes out a giant clay jar, then digs an enormous hole in the backyard, which Keo fears is meant to be Halmoni's grave. One evening, the whole family slices and seasons a hundred heads of cabbage, but Halmoni's gone the next day--and so are the kimchi ingredients. Choi's imaginative Keo offers a well-reasoned foil to the actions of "slippery, spicy, and tingly as kimchi" Halmoni, while acrylic and colored pencil illustrations, finished digitally, depict the family activities in warm hues and imagined fantastical events in blue-green tones. Characters cue as Korean. Includes a pronunciation guide, author's note, and more about kimchi. Ages 5--9. (Oct.)

K-Gr 3--Keo is surprised when his grandmother shows up one chilly morning. She lives far away and keeps busy with lots of things. But she has a surprise--treasure! She doesn't exactly explain what she's doing with a really big jar and a really big hole in the backyard. Grandma calls the whole family together to make kimchi, but Keo is too sleepy to see what happens next and is surprised when he wakes up the next morning to find Grandma gone and the hole filled in. After a month or so, Keo's mom opens Grandma's treasure and finds kimchi. This is a lovely family story about the sharing of making food together. The warm, friendly artwork is a perfect complement to the story. VERDICT A nice picture book story about a family working together to make food they all enjoy.--Debbie Tanner