Waiting for Mama

Waiting for Mama by Tae-Jun, Lee. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780735821439.

Told in a few lines of text, this tender story was first published in a newspaper in 1938. This tale from Korea is universal--a small child waits for Mama at the station, asking the conductor if he has seen her. The conductor hasnt, but cautions the child to wait a little farther from the tracks. It is cold and snowy but the child waits patiently until finally Mama comes. In the last wordless spread, we see the small hand in a mothers firm clasp as they walk away from us. The art and text are so authentic, so real, that this book is best published in a bilingual edition that respects and honors those traditions. The Korean setting gives it special appeal to a growing demographic segment. The institutional market is especially hungry for bilingual books in languages beyond Spanish.