When Spring Comes to the DMZ
When Spring Comes to the DMZ by Ŏk-pae Yi is a translation published by Plough Publishing House in 2019. This picture book invites young readers to explore the natural beauty of Korea’s demilitarized zone (DMZ), a unique area that serves as an accidental nature preserve. Through vibrant illustrations, the book presents a landscape where wildlife such as salmon, spotted seals, and mountain goats thrive, contrasting with the stark realities of military presence and barriers that define this divided land.
Readers will find a narrative that intertwines themes of family and hope, as it follows a grandfather who yearns to return to his former home within the DMZ. The story encourages children to dream of a peaceful future, free from conflict and division. The book also introduces concepts related to seasons and social themes, prompting discussions about the ongoing history of the Korean Peninsula and the broader implications of separation and unity. With 34 pages of engaging content, this edition is designed to foster understanding and reflection among its young audience.
Official synopsis Publisher
Batchelder Honor Winner, 2020 ALA Youth Media Awards
Honorable Mention, 2019 Freeman Awards (National Consortium for Teaching about Asia)
Korea’s demilitarized zone (DMZ) has become an amazing accidental nature preserve that gives hope for a brighter future for a divided land.
This unique picture book invites young readers into the natural beauty of the DMZ, where salmon, spotted seals, and mountain goats freely follow the seasons and raise their families in this 2.5-mile-wide, 150-mile-long corridor where no human may tread. But the vivid seasonal flora and fauna are framed by ever-present rusty razor wire, warning signs, and locked gates–and regularly interrupted by military exercises that continue decades after a 1953 ceasefire in the Korean War established the DMZ.
Creator Uk-Bae Lee’s lively paintings juxtapose these realities, planting in children the dream of a peaceful world without war and barriers, where separated families meet again and live together happily in harmony with their environment. Lee shows the DMZ through the eyes of a grandfather who returns each year to look out over his beloved former lands, waiting for the day when he can return. In a surprise foldout panorama at the end of the book the grandfather, tired of waiting, dreams of taking his grandson by the hand, flinging back the locked gates, and walking again on the land he loves to find his long-lost friends.
When Spring Comes to the DMZ helps introduce children to the unfinished history of the Korean Peninsula playing out on the nightly news, and may well spark discussions about other walls, from Texas to Gaza.
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