Dear New York,
I would like to order one bagel to go.
Please send it to me as soon as possible.
Respectfully yours,
Yum Yung in Korea
Yum Yung lives in a part of Korea where there are no New York bagels, and one day he just knows he has to have one. How a New York bagel popped into Yum Yung’s head is a mystery. Perhaps it came to him in a dream, smothered with cream cheese. Or maybe he heard sparrows singing of bagel crumbs in Central Park. However it happened, Yum Yung cannot stop thinking about a golden brown bagel with a curious hole in the middle. The very idea makes his tummy growl and his mouth water. Yum Yung declares, “I want a bagel!” His village in Korea might have many things — lilacs and waterfalls, streams of daring fish — but there are no New York bagels. He sends a message from his Korean village via pigeon to New York City for someone to send him one. While he waits, he asks the farmer, the fisherman and the honeybee keeper for help, but none of them have ever heard of a bagel. Yum Yung knows just where to get flour, sea salt and honey. As Yum Yung reaches Oh’s Heavenly Bakery, the bird returns without a bagel but with the recipe.
This timeless fable will make readers giggle with delight and satisfaction as Yum Yung, with the help of his friends, fulfills his bagel dream. The tale illustrates the power of perseverance. With charming gouache illustrations that evoke the intricate and colorful patterns found in Korean fabrics, this story mixes up cultures quite nicely. Bagel shapes abound, including a full moon with a cloud providing the hole in the middle. For ages 4 to 8.
32 pages, Lee & Low Books, $16