 |
 |
|
|
|
|
The Firekeeper's Son
illustrated by Julie Downing
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Clarion Books (March 22, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618133372
ISBN-13: 978-0618133376
In Korea in the early 1800s, news from the countryside reached the king by means of signal fires. On one mountaintop after another, a fire was lit when all was well. If the king did not see a fire, that meant trouble, and he would send out his army.
Linda Sue Park's first picture book for Clarion is about Sang-hee, son of the village firekeeper. When his father is unable to light the fire one night, young Sang-hee must take his place. Sang-hee knows how important it is for the fire to be lit-but he wishes that he could see soldiers . . . just once.
Mountains, firelight and shadow, and Sunhee's struggle with a hard choice are rendered in radiant paintings, which tell their own story of a turning point in a child's life.