The Thunderous Hello: An English/Korean Children’s Story
After so much great feedback and interest in my bilingual bedtime story The Sun & The Moon Story, I jumped right back in to write another and worked with Raquel Cruz to illustrate a second book in the series titled The Thunderous Hello. I am so excited to introduce this bilingual Korean and English story.
I love that my daughter is bilingual and I want to continue to foster that by giving her every opportunity to use both English and Korean with me and her daddy. What started as a one off experience to write a story for my daughter has turned into something very meaningful and I’m so thrilled that Raquel is illustrating again because she truly captures both western and Korean ideas in her artwork.
Are you ready for the new book? Let’s check it out!
Learn more about The Thunderous Hello:
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What Is The Book About?
In Korea each summer, the monsoon rains can be incessant. One night, my daughter was awakened by the loud thunder and was scared to go back to sleep and so I began to tell her the story of The Thunderous Hello.
A friendly cloud who is only trying to say hello but it just happens to sound like a loud bang. The story is meant to help your child think about that loud thunder in a more friendly manner.
The Thunderous Hello is a bilingual children’s book written in both English and Korean. This isn’t meant to be a scientific explanation of thunder and clouds but a more whimsical and colorful story about how rain comes and brings out fun bugs, how the loud bangs we hear aren’t meant to be scary but a greeting from the clouds that are usually quiet but like to remind us they’re here now and again.
Similar to the first story, I wrote this book with my daughter in mind as I found she wanted to be read every bedtime story twice, once in English and again in Korean. Either me or my husband were translating on the fly, or we had to buy one book in each language so I began to write down the stories I was telling my daughter randomly as we laid in bed.
The rain begins to fall and splashes against the window.
Drip. Drop.
The rain hits the ground and makes muddy puddles.
Drip. Drop.비가 내리기 시작했어요. 빗방울이 창문에 튀어요.
똑! 똑!
땅에 떨어진 비는 진흙 웅덩이를 만들었네요.
똑! 똑!
After writing the story, Jeemin Yoon retold the story in Korean. The illustrator Raquel P. Cruz utilized imagery from both western and Korean perspectives to meld this lovely storybook into one creative experience. This is a perfect book for children who like colorful images and listening to stories. It’s also a fun book that will age with your children as they begin to read.
Who Is This Book For?
This is a great book for so many people really and it is a beautiful gift to give someone. If you’re celebrating or going to a first birthday celebration in Korea or for a Korean friend abroad, this would be a lovely gift for the child. The first birthday is an auspicious time and big event in Korean culture so giving something that brings both western and Korean cultures together, is a great idea.
Many teachers here in Korea gifted my first book The Sun & The Moon Story to their students when they were leaving and similarly, this would be a great gift for students here in Korea as you say goodbye. It’s perfect for any family, Korean, foreign, multicultural, or otherwise raising their child bilingually.
How To Get Your Copy
The Thunderous Hello is available on Amazon.com.
We hope you enjoy the new story as much as we do.
The Artist: Raquel P. Cruz
Raquel Cruz is a local artist here in Korea and she beautifully utilizes imagery from both western and Korean perspectives. Raquel was born in Madrid, Spain and grew up in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She lived in Honduras for 15 years and that is where she fell in love with the colors you can see in a lot of her art. After high school, she moved to the US for college and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis on Drawing and Painting from Biola University in California.
Raquel currently lives in Seoul, South Korea where she has lived since 2016. She is inspired by traditional Korean art, things she sees, eats or does, flowers and her cats. Currently, the medium she is working with are markers and small sketchbooks like Moleskine so she can carry supplies with her wherever she goes and work on the spot.
She has made small prints of some of her favorite drawings and illustrations and sells them at local markets in Seoul. Also, she has recently started making and selling stickers. She also takes commissions and has worked with locals to make signs for their stores or gifts for loved ones. She can do anything you want and uses watercolors and ink. The best way of getting a hold of her is sending an email to [email protected] or sending a DM through instagram @raaqueelc.
I hope you enjoy the story book as much as I did creating it. Enjoy the second in the series!
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