Gillian McClure,
The Land of the Dragon King and other Korean Stories
Frances Lincoln, 2008.

Ages 4-8

"Stories without feet travel far, if told" is the Korean proverb quoted at the front of this vibrant collection of stories, which Gillian McClure retells in a way that should make them travel far indeed! In her introduction she talks about a visit to Korea, when she felt drawn to explore the landscape she "recognised from the folk tales I was reading". Something of this awareness of myth and reality comes through in both her narrative and her illustrations as we journey into the magical world of Korean folklore.

There are nine stories in all and they cover the whole gamut of what readers might expect - generosity, loyalty, wiliness, kindness, bravery, selfishness, stupidity, wit. We learn how the pig got its snout, how rabbits got their "small fluffy tufts for tails", and how the sea became salty. One story, "Me First!" is full of beautiful images as, "In the days when tigers smoked long pipes and animals could speak" Deer, Hare and Toad vie amicably with one another to determine who is the oldest. In another tale, "The Herdsman and the Weaver", we find two lovers who can be seen as the stars Altair and Vega on either side of the Milky Way. They meet once a year, thanks to a bridge made by hundreds of magpies. Readers will never look at magpies in quite the same way again!

Each story is illustrated in a slightly different style, echoing traditional Korean painting to varying degrees. McClure's animals are very expressive, especially the tigers, and her goblins are memorably humorous. My only quibble is that, although she represents them with the one or two horns of the Korean goblin-like tokkaebi and they carry the traditional magical spiked club, she doesn't actually use the Korean name for these rather distinctive mythical creatures. She pays particular attention to detail in her portrayal of the Korean landscape and people - a wall is topped with traditional tiling; a zelkova tree is depicted with its large, crinkly leaves; "an old man in a tall black horsehair hat" is indeed shown wearing the unmistakeable kat.

These are stories that continue to sparkle, no matter how many times they are told, and young children will love both listening to them and absorbing McClure's narrative voice on their own. The Land of the Dragon King is a lovely book and one just needs to look at the slightly mischievous dragon on the back cover and the teasing goblins inside it to know that it will be a treat.

Marjorie Coughlan
April 2009