Yoon and the Christmas Mitten

Yoon and the Christmas Mitten

Picture book
I'm about seven years late or ten months early on this review.
But Helen Recorvits' Yoon and the Christmas Mitten is one of the
sweetest yuletide stories I've ever seen. It's also a poignant look
at the struggle between an immigrant child's desire to incorporate
fascinating aspects of her new home country and her parents' need to
not lose their identity.
Yoon comes home from school bursting with excitement. She
shares a special book with her parents. It's about Mr. Santa Claus
who lives at the North Pole and delivers presents on Christmas Eve.
Yoon's parents explain that they are not a Christmas family.
Instead they will celebrate the New Year. They will visit another
Korean family to share a meal and wish each other good luck.
Somehow this pales in comparison in Yoon's mind to the splendid
celebration she hears more about every day in school. But how can she
get her parents to be open to the songs, the stories, and the
enchantment?
On a personal note, it is a cold, dreary, rainy day in central Maine.
A great big shout out goes out to the ancestors nearly all of us have
who went through the process of adapting to this confusing country and
those who are still coming over.
Julia Emily Hathaway


Sent from my iPod