“This sweet, poignant tale deserves to be appreciated by all audiences, particularly adults with aging parents. Queue the (cathartic) ugly tears, though, and prepare with plenty of tissues. Heartbreakingly glorious… stupendously affecting.” – Booklist, starred review
by Jungo-Soon Go
Pub Date: March 4, 2025
Page Count: 128
Category: Children's Books
Publisher: Levine Querido
Growing up, Jung-soon spent every moment she could at her grandparents' house. Dressing up and watching cartoons. Dyeing each other's fingernails with crushed balsam petals. Getting the whole neighborhood together to sweep their streets. Falling asleep together . . . just the three of them, happy.
Grandfather was Grandmother's best and only friend. On every Jesa day, during the ancestral ritual, he would gently place the traditional Korean okchundang candy in her mouth, a big smile spreading across her face as it melted on her tongue.
But nothing ever stays the same, and as Jung-soon got older, so did her grandparents. With breathtaking colored pencil and watercolor art, she presents an achingly beautiful graphic novel about the little joys and sharp sorrows that make up a life together as a family.
“A child’s unconditional love for their tender, quirky grandparents pivots into a bittersweet coming-of-age narrative in Go’s delicate and raw autobiographical tale. It’s a meditative graphic novel that twines the joys of living and the pain of loss into one indistinguishable braid.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review
“This graphic memoir, set and originally published in South Korea, takes on aging and death—topics many authors flinch from—with a rare mix of respect, tenderness, and candor. Love is palpable throughout, too. An achingly lovely work laced with profound truths on love, death, and grief.” – Kirkus, starred review
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jung-soon Go loves sharing her stories through picture books, essays, novels, and cartoons. For Okchundang Candy, she won the Special Prize in the 2023 Korea Picture Book Awards.
Translator Aerin Park, born and raised in South Korea, believes that language is a bridge to people's stories, culture, and history. She is passionate about integrating these elements into her work—both translation and Korean language teaching.
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