Ida's Present

July 1, 2015

K-Gr 2-This translation from the 2008 Korean edition is part of a series designed to "develop self-awareness, responsibility, and positive relationships." Dressed in red, young Ida travels the forest to bring a box of gifts to her grandmother. The warm shawl, eyeglasses, and family picture Ida has drawn are pilfered in turn by a tree, a rabbit, and a wind, each of whom she convinces to return the item, based on the lack of true use to the thief. In return, Ida creates a picture of the wind's family, fashions faux eyeglasses for rabbit from the box handle, and gives the tree a cloth grandmother had wrapped around a cake. Lee's text stacks simple sentences to make for a quick moving plot that allows Kim's illustrations to fill in details of the fantasy. The delicately lined illustrations combine elements in black, white, and gray with pops of teal, pink, orange, and, of course, Ida's red. At the close, Grandma's letter reinforces the lesson, as does a brief sharing song and suggestions for reader's theater with an online script. VERDICT The balance of whimsy and practicality falters at times and the messages to adults lead the tale into didacticism.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA

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