Wish Soup: A Celebration of Seollal

by Junghwa Park

Overview

Celebrate Korean Lunar New Year and join one child’s quest to eat enough bowls of soup to become a “big girl!”

Sohee’s favorite part of Seollal is tteokguk—the special Korean rice cake soup traditionally only enjoyed on New Year’s Day. Each bowl is said to make the person who eats it one year older. This year, Sohee wants to eat as many bowls as she can to finally be an eonni, or “big girl,” to her younger siblings and cousins. Before Sohee can even get to her first bowl, though, she’s interrupted by a series of holiday-related chores, leaving plenty of opportunity for her mischievous younger sister Somi to eat not only Sohee’s tteokguk, but their whole family’s! Despite this outrageously silly setback, Sohee eventually learns that being a big girl is more than just how many bowls of tteokguk you eat. 

This funny story of a child’s journey to discover what it really means to be a big girl explores the traditions of Korean Lunar New Year and the value of family and helpfulness. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316457361
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	12/05/2023
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	409,502
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Junghwa Park is a Korean-born American immigrant and artist living in Jersey City, New Jersey. She graduated with a BFA in Illustration from School of Visual Arts in 2014 and was the Grand Prize Winner of SCBWI’s Winter 2020 Portfolio Showcase. She has collaborated with Pottery Barn, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Poetry Foundation and more. Junghwa’s published works include Pow! Kids’s While Grandpa Naps by Naomi Danis, which went on to appear in the New York Times; Korean publisher Who’s Got My Tail’s Bunnybee; and Putnam’s12 Days of Kindness by Irene Latham. Wish Soup is her North American author-illustrator debut. You can visit her at jungwhapark.com.
 

Editorial Reviews

10/23/2023

On Seollal, young Sohee looks forward to becoming a “real eonni,” or “big girl”—and being too cool to hang out with younger cousins and little sister Somi. It’s Seollal tradition to “bow to the elders in our family, fill fortune pockets with gifts of money and wisdom, and—my favorite—eat tteokguk”—a rice cake soup that renders everyone “one year older for every bowl we eat!” Intent on securing older-sibling status, Sohee prepares to eat her tteokguk. But each time she goes to take a bite, a holiday chore interrupts, and before long, Sohee finds her bowl all eaten up. Across expressive digitally finished watercolor, colored pencil, and oil pastel spreads, Park’s solo debut guides readers through the celebration’s traditions until, Mom’s gentle consolation—and an extra bowl of tteokguk—reassures Sohee that she’s a real eonni after all. A tteokguk recipe concludes. Ages 4–8. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Wish Soup:
A Book Riot Best New Children’s Book of December 2023

"Park’s textured lines and colors, as well as the characters’ exaggerated expressions, marry perfectly with the simple narration, evoking a sense of childlike charm and innocence…A delectable and endearing celebration."—Kirkus

“This charming book invites readers into Seollal traditions with a quirky plot, cute illustrations, and a recipe for tteokguk.”
 
 —Booklist

"A fun story focusing on sibling holiday high jinks. Recommended for all holiday collections."—School Library Journal

“Across expressive digitally finished watercolor, colored pencil, and oil pastel spreads, Park’s solo debut guides readers through the celebration’s traditions.”—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

12/01/2023

PreS-Gr 2—Sohee is excited for this Seollal, because she'll be a big girl and too cool to hang out with her younger sister. While multiple traditions of the Lunar New Year holiday are discussed, Sohee focuses on tteokguk—a delicious soup that, according to her grandfather, makes you a year older for every bowl you eat. So Sohee must eat more than her sister! After preparing the soup, she can't wait for her first bite; but she is called away to help set the table, invite everyone to eat, and then help her younger brother. When she finally returns, her younger sister has eaten her soup, and everyone else's, too! Does that make her sister the big girl now? Luckily her mother has an extra bowl and reassures her that her actions, not the soup, are what make her a big girl. Humor is conveyed through Park's watercolor illustrations, especially when Sohee's young sister is depicted with a larger-than-life mouth, dumping in bowl after bowl of soup. Sohee and her family are Korean. Back matter includes a recipe for tteokguk. VERDICT A fun story focusing on sibling holiday high jinks. Recommended for all holiday collections.—Jennifer Rothschild

School Library Journal

2023-09-23
A young Korean girl is excited for Korean New Year, only to get caught up in the chaos of the preparations.

It is Seollal, and Sohee is thrilled that this year, she’ll become an eonni, or older sister, which means she’s old enough to stop hanging out with her younger sister, Somi, and baby cousins and can instead help the adults get ready for the celebration. After the children bow to the elders and receive gifts “of money and wisdom,” everyone is given a bowl of tteokguk—as Sohee’s harabeoji says, “We get one year older for every bowl we eat!” Sohee is determined to eat her bowl of tteokguk to cement the fact that she’s a year older than Somi, but Sohee is called away to set the table. A pattern is thus established: Each time Sohee is about to eat her tteokguk, she’s assigned another task. Meanwhile, Somi has consumed every bowl of tteokguk on the table, boasting that she’s now “the biggest girl in the family!” Sohee’s despair when her tteokguk is gone is quickly alleviated when her mother reveals one last bowl and tells Sohee that she’s already a big girl who’s taken on more responsibility. Park’s textured lines and colors, as well as the characters’ exaggerated expressions, marry perfectly with the simple narration, evoking a sense of childlike charm and innocence.

A delectable and endearing celebration. (recipe for tteokguk) (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews