Jin Woo

April 23, 2001
The team behind So Far from the Sea adds a layer of interest to this tale of a boy's ambivalence toward the arrival of a new sibling a baby adopted from Korea. "I can hardly wait," David's mother says, when the family receives news of Jin Woo's impending arrival. David is not so eager: "I can wait. I could wait longer." With sensitivity and humor, Bunting charts the boy's emotional journey from uncertainty and dread to acceptance, as preparations for the new baby segue to the airport, where David and his parents finally spot Jin Woo (" `I don't think that's the right one,' I say, hoping. Maybe they'll send him back"). David warms up to Jin Woo as he coaxes the first laugh from his new baby brother on the ride home from the airport, and the book ends with him giving a beloved duck mobile to Jin Woo after David is reassured that his parents have more than enough love to go around. If David's transformation feels a bit swift, Bunting nevertheless deftly plumbs the well of conflicting emotions, and Soentpiet's luminously realistic watercolors bolster her efforts. Whether portraying David's initially somber facial expressions, his unmistakable body language as he stands apart from his excited parents at the airport or the rosy-cheeked, cheerful Jin Woo, Soentpiet's illustrations light up the pages and root the story firmly in the affectionate fabric of everyday family life. Ages 5-8.

May 1, 2001
PreS-Gr 2-David's parents are adopting a baby from Korea, and the boy, also adopted, is less than thrilled. Bunting's sensitive writing tells of Jin Woo's arrival from David's point of view, infusing the story with childlike sensibility and humor. (When his mother says she can't wait for the baby to arrive, the protagonist tells readers, "I can wait. I could wait longer.") Soentpiet's watercolors are suffused with light and perfectly capture the characters' expressions, from the tense faces of the expectant parents, to the delighted looks of the airport bystanders witnessing the baby's happy arrival. One particularly effective illustration shows David's parents through the glass of the airport window, watching the infant emerge from the plane. While their hands are pressed against the pane and their faces are alight with anticipation, their son looks at them uneasily. His fears begin to recede when he finds that he can make the baby laugh, and they fall away completely when his mother reads him a letter from his new brother assuring him that his parents' love for Jin Woo won't take anything away from him. (She wrote it for the baby, his mother says, because she knows what is in his heart.) The only small inconsistency is the car seat in one illustration, which faces forward instead of backward, as it should for a five-month-old child. However, the story's emotional veracity will speak to any new sibling.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, Eldersburg, MD

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2001
Ages 4-8. Jin Woo is the baby that's coming from Korea to be adopted by David's family, but David's not sure how he feels about having a little brother. The night before Jin Woo's arrival, the family goes to a Korean restaurant. The next day, they pick up the baby at the airport, where David gets to hold the chubby, happy child. When his mother reads him a comforting letter "written" by Jin Woo, David feels things will work out after all. The story's climax comes when David decides to give his brother the duck mobile that spins over his bed. The pictures make David look at least seven, and a mobile at that age seems a bit odd. Otherwise, the art is the high point of this solid piece of bibliotherapy. It has a photographic clarity that makes these characters real enough to touch, and adorable Jin Woo looks eminently huggable. A solid choice for adoption shelves, especially for those looking for material on international adoption.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2001
When his parents adopt a Korean baby, young David the narrator wants to share their joy but also feels jealous. Throughout the preparations, arrival, and homecoming of Jin Woo, Davey's ambivalence is revealed in realistic watercolors. The happy resolution, cemented with a letter from Jin Woo (ghost-written by Mom) to Davey, is simplistic and sentimental, but it's nevertheless touching.

(Copyright 2001 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)