Book 215 of 300 ~ 2024

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Another lovely grandma story. Plus, family bonding. Plus gorgeous illustrations. Oh, and they depict how kimchi is made...

Recipe for a great culture rich book, right??

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Fun and tasty! This book is silly and heartfelt, with family themes and an introduction to a new food for many kids.

What a fabulous dive into the word of Kimchi! Yangsook Choi has brought a beautiful family tradition alive with this story of a somewhat misunderstood grandmother and her her buried treasure. The fabulous rhyming text and lovely bond between family members make this an excellent story for you readers who are not disturbed by the brief conversation of death. This story will leave you tingling with the bonds of family!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

A sweet story about tradition and family, Slippery, Spicy, Tingly was enjoyable from beginning to the end! Seeing Keo and Halmoni's relationship throughout the book, as well as Halmoni sharing the tradition of making kimchi, were both such relatable things for a young reader, regardless of their background. The author's note and extra information about kimchi at the end was extra special to read about as well.

I had high hopes for this book based on the author since The Name Jar is so popular and well-written and this one did not disappoint! I loved that while this centered around kimchi it was largely a metaphor for family and love. In the story, the young boy's grandmother comes for a surprise visit and says she's there to make kimchi (like a typical grandmother she's horrified by the store-bought versions in the fridge). The young boy keeps wondering what she's up to and is convinced she cares more about kimchi than about him. He watches as she digs a giant hole in the backyard and he's convinced she's buried treasure. She makes kimchi and disappears again, the giant hole in the backyard covered. In winter they dig up the hole and find it filled with kimchi. It takes the family a while to get to the bottom and when they do the boy finds a letter of love from his grandmother in the bottom and he understands that she cared about him all along, that kimchi was her expression of love. I love that it wasn't just about kimchi and had a mystery to it. I think this would be an amazing book to talk about kinds of family, building suspense, how foods are made, love, and more. Adults and children will all fall in love with the little boy and his grandmother and will be excited for the final reveal. A must add to any collection or read aloud rotation!

I absolutely loved this book. My 4 and 5 year old children did as well. They were able to tell me the message of the book after we read it. “He thought his grandmother didn’t love him.” This led to a great discussion of how different people show love in different ways.

I love this story. My daughters love this story. And I know my students will love this story. Yangsook Choi has invited her readers into one of the most important Korean family traditions: making Kimchi. And she has done this with such warmth and delight. My youngest daughter has even said Ms. Choi's story is one of her favourites.

The writing is beautiful, and the illustrations are of a quality only expected of our great artists. I highly recommend this book!

As an educator and EL teacher, I deeply value books that celebrate cultural diversity and provide students with opportunities to learn about and respect different traditions. This book has deep personal significance to me, as making kimchi is an integral part of my cultural heritage. Raised in Seoul, I grew up eating kimchi before moving to Minnesota, where I realized just how important and precious this tradition is to me.

The process of making kimchi is not just about the food itself; it’s a labor of love that involves significant time, physical effort, and dedication—especially when preparing the heavy cabbages. This understanding deepened when I became a mother and witnessed the love my own mother, now my daughters’ grandmother, pours into making kimchi for our family. Whenever she visits us in Minnesota, she buys an abundance of cabbages and engages us all in the kimchi-making process, transforming it into a meaningful family event. My daughters eagerly join in, creating cherished memories as they experience their grandmother’s love and dedication firsthand.

This book beautifully captures the essence of cultural traditions and the strong family bonds that are formed through them. It’s an excellent resource for students to learn about Korean culture, understand the significance of traditional practices, and develop a respect for the diverse cultures that make up our world. The story’s emphasis on family, tradition, and love makes it a valuable addition to any classroom focused on cultural education.

An engagingly informative story about the wonders of kimchi. The cultural ties that kimchi has are thoughtfully explored in an approachable way even for children who may not have much experience with the food in their own households. Told with soft, encouraging imagery, this book will have kids itching to try kimchi themselves.

This is such a heartwarming story about making kimchi and love across generations. There is an element of mystery in the story as Keo tries to understand the reason for his grandmother’s visit and what she’s buried in the yard. I really enjoyed the author’s note about how the book is inspired by her own childhood experience of making kimchi with her family, specifically her grandmother. This picture book would be a great family or older audience read.

While this is a fun story, something about the illustrations registers as very creepy in a way that feels sincerely sinister. I think perhaps the book just misses the mark: it is comedic, but feels dark - which often works well but in this instance strikes me as somewhat discordant.

Kimchi on toast?! But not sauerkraut I think!
In Korea kimchi is best made in a family group like the one in this story as it has been done for ages.
The Korean tradition of kimjang was recognized as an intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2013.
The finely detailed illustrations by the author are fun, entertaining, and colorful.
Well suited for reading by someone of any age (not only 7-8 years) including ESL, and great for gifting, but especially to a school, or your public library!
I requested and received a free temporary digital review copy on Adobe Digital Editions from Lerner Publishing Group | Carolrhoda Books ® via NetGalley. Thank you! Pub Date Oct 01 2024
#Family #FoodPreservation #Grandmothers #Togetherness

This is a sweet little book displaying a grandmother’s, halmoni, love for her grandson, Keo. Unexpectedly, she comes to visit in the fall saying she has a surprise. She is going to make her “special” kimchi. Kimchi is a time honored generational tradition in Korea. She takes a couple days to gather her supplies and Keo’s imagination begins to run wild thinking all sorts of awful things. Then, the time has come to make kimchi and the entire family helps. Once salted and seasoned it’s placed in a large pot outside in the in a deep hole and covered so that it can ferment. This tradition of making it this way has slowly gone by the wayside as it is now much easier to buy in the supermarket.
Halmoni is a spry super senior and enjoys many types of activities. But coming to make kimchi with the family is not only tradition, but a family activity that shows love. I particularly like the drawings which were done by the writer. They are beautiful and depicted the Korean family perfectly. I also appreciated in the beginning a small glossary and pronunciation of each family member. In the end it shows a quick way to make kimchi. It doesn’t have a recipe, but I’m sure a little search online would suffice. There is also history about the generational history of making kimchi. A lot is packed in the quick little book.

This was a cute story that made me want kimchi! I loved the slight mystery element and the ending was super sweet!

Grandmother Halmoni and her grandchild Keo are about to make kimchi.
What is going on? Why is Halmoni acting this and that way?
Told beautifully and from a fresh narrative point, Slippery, Spicy, Tingly is a cute, rich and nuanced children’s book that ticks all the right boxes: representing a cultural aspect, demonstrating the bond between a child and his/their nana, giving information in an engaging way.
We loved the action in the art style. I personally wished the colours were a bit more vibrant, but perhaps the print book will look different and this is entirely subjective.
4.5 stars.

Slippery, Spicy, Tingly is a cute picture book about a family making kimchi together, but also about how Keo’s eccentric halmoni loves him, even if she doesn’t always show it in ways he understands.

This was a delight to read. I loved that it showed the love between a grandmother and her grandchild, as the grandmother shows the grandchild how to make kimchi. The author did a great job of showing the process through a child’s eyes, including an element that was a bit of a mystery for the child.

The pictures were beautiful and reflected the warmth of the story. I also loved the repetition of a phrase throughout the book, making the book more memorable for children.

What a fun book! Besides the fact that I love Kimchi, reading how the Grandmother showed the child the traditional way to make it was really fun. I'm excited to create a lesson around it with my students. Maybe we can even make some Kimchi. They will love the descriptive words.

This is a beautiful picture book bursting with color and creativity! Young readers will enjoy the gentle mayhem and mild spookiness as characters dig holes and dream of ghostly cabbages, older readers will enjoy figuring out the culinary mystery and staying one step ahead of the story, and caregivers will be thankful for the pronunciation guide at the beginning and intrigued by the additional information provided about kimchi and kimjang at the end.

Perfect for reading at a farmer's market or community center where people of all ages can share not only this story but their own memories of community and culinary traditions. Thank you to NetGalley for access to this delicious arc!

Cute! I really adored the progression of how the "mystery" developed and eventually got solved with time and exploration. This definitely made this book well-rounded and 100% interesting. I also liked the illustrations because they were so beautiful in very well-done watercolors. Somehow, the illustrator also played with light while working with these watercolors, which was pleasing to the eye and super impressive. Lastly, this book is very unique - in the best way. There aren't a lot of diverse books out there, especially not ones about kimchi or the making of it. Choi definitely brought a fresh taste to the world of kids' books by writing this book, and I feel that kids will enjoy reading this book. They might even want to read it more than once. Even though rereading this book would take away the surprise of the mystery being solved, there is still so much to this book. Even further, Choi so seamlessly teaches readers about a lot of cool things that are involved in the making of kimchi.