Mr. Pak Buys a Story

Farley, Carol J.

ISBN 10: 0807551783 ISBN 13: 9780807551783

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co, 1997

Synopsis

A brightly illustrated retelling of an old Korean tale follows Mr. Pak, who purchases a story from a traveling stranger and, in doing so, ironically saves his wealthy masters from a band of thieves.

About this title

About the Author:

Farley is an Albert Whitman author.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-3?In this retelling of a Korean folktale, an elderly couple send their servant, Mr. Pak, to the city to buy a story, which he is to learn by heart and bring back so that they may entertain themselves. Mr. Pak is bamboozled by a thief, whose "story" is simply a recounting of the movements of a nearby stork. The man returns home; although mystified by the "story," his employer loudly retells it every night, hoping to understand it better. Some time later the same thief comes to rob the couple's house. When he overhears the story, elements of which mimic his movements, he believes that he has been discovered and flees. The author adds a nice tag in which the wife says, "The more I hear the tale, the more I wonder. And wonder is a very valuable thing." Huang's illustrations are comically distorted, with expressive faces, accurate traditional costumes, and details such as a white cat that appears in each scene with the couple. In a foreword, the author tells how she came to know the story, which she heard from her students while teaching at a university in Seoul and eventually found in Frances Carpenter's Tales of a Korean Grandmother (Tuttle, 1972). She has improved on it by making the seller of the fake story and the thief one and the same person, and by removing Carpenter's emphasis on the stupidity of country folk. An enjoyable addition.?Pam Gosner, formerly at Maplewood Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0807551783
• ISBN 13: 9780807551783
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Huang Benrei