I found this book via Ribambelles & Ribambins, and was delighted to find a Korean/English version on Amazon. I love the style, the illustrations and the deeply emotional story told almost entirely in images.Originally published in a magazine in 1938, the story is of a little boy waiting for his mother at a streetcar station in winter. As the day grows colder, the tightly-bundled boy watches other people depart and arrive, other children holding their parents hands, workers and food sellers and families all passing him by. Still his mother doesn't come...and it begins to snow on the crowded city. When I reached the last illustration, at first I didn't see a mother, and I actually welled up with tears...until I spotted them, small among the crowded, snow-filled streets, the boy's little hand held firmly in his mother's as they walk home together.
2 comments:
The illustrations are beautiful. I would have cried too. I think I am too sensitive for the book.
The first time we read this story with the 2 youngest, we held our breath wishing secretly that the mother would come in the end. It was very tensed. Now they love to have this story before going to be bed since they know the mother will eventually come. It is soft and tender.
I really like this book about trustworthiness. A very special one.
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