Helen Recorvits, illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska
Yoon and the Christmas Mitten
FSG, 2006

Ages 4-8

Yoon and the Christmas Mitten is a second, equally successful collaboration between writer and illustrator of the award-winning Yoon, about a young Korean girl, recently arrived in America, whose name means "Shining Wisdom".

Yoon's wisdom and strong will are revealed once again in this story and Swiatkowska's illustrations once again hit the mark. They are at once soft and strong—like Yoon herself. It's her first Christmas in America and she is curious about the stories and songs she hears at school; the decorated trees; the colored lights she sees in the other houses... but her mother reminds her over and over: "We are not a Christmas family".

Yoon knows that their family's holiday is New Year's Day, when they share a fine meal of kimchee (spicy cabbage), dumpling soup and rice cakes with friends, and wish each other good luck: but that doesn't make her any less excited about Christmas. Would allowing themselves a taste of Christmas make them less Korean? That's what Yoon and her family are challenged to discover in this beautiful story about the real meaning of traditions.

When Christmas Eve comes, Yoon has pinned her favorite red mitten to her blanket ("Are we not both Korean and American?", she tries to reason with her father), hoping Santa will come in spite of the lack of lights, decorations and stockings hanging from the fireplace.

On Christmas morning, a box on the floor by her bed, containing a  new red dress, and a peppermint candy cane inside her mitten ("Mr. Santa Claus brought me a piece of the North Pole!") convince her that Christmas can indeed be magical - and us adults that Yoon's shining wisdom most likely runs in the family.

Aline Pereira
September 2006