Waiting For Mummy be Tae-Jun Lee and Dong-Sung Kim

This is a beautiful, simple and strange picture book.

It is about a child who is waiting for their mother at a tram stop. That's about the extent of it. It is beautifully illustrated, and paints a charming picture of Korea. But it leaves questions which I struggle with.

First and foremost, What is such a young child doing waiting by themselves for such a long period of time? Where is his mother or father? Do they have no concern for a child who looks like he could be no more than four. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that a child couldn't wait that long, or should be able to without something bad happening. But it begs to question the roll of the parents.

Secondly, I understand that we are supposed to realise that 'Mummy' has arrived by the final illustration. But we don't know that it is her. We are so far removed from the situation that for all we know, it is some stranger, convinced the boy (who has really been standing in the snow, alone, for hours) to come with her.

I mean, this is only one way of reading this book, which really is beautifully put together. And I must concede that I am a little removed from the culture in which it was produced. Not only is it a Korean book, the text was originally written in 1938, when I can only assume that it was more likely that children might be out in the streets on their own.

I'm not entirely sure what I hoped to achieve by this review, because I can see that this book has its place, and by all accounts, it is highly commended. And I do like to read it; the pictures are stunning. Yet I always reach the end and find myself thinking "but..."

 

2.5 Gold Stars

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