While the notes at the end of the book laud this as a feminist work, I can't totally agree. Ehwa and her mother live on their own and are totally self-sufficient, but other than talking about puberty, they spend most of their time discussing boys and men. (This is a shout-out to my YAAers who introduced me to the Bechdel test!) Regardless, the graphics were so expressive that even though they were in black and white, I saw each frame in color. So much emotion was over the top, but it totally sucked me in. I have already requested the next book in the series. ( )

First in a trilogy, this is very much a coming-of-age novel about Ehwa, who ages from about age 5 to 13 in this installment. She lives with her widowed mother, who runs a tavern. Ehwa's mother has a boyfriend-of sorts, a traveling artist who stops buy irregularly. Ehwa is a bit younger/more naive than her friend Bongsoon. Ehwa likes both a young monk-in-training and the local landowner's son (who Bongsoon has her eyes on). This is a sweet story, but I was surprised the author is male.

The drawings in this are amazing. They are single-color, small and large panels. The flora drawings are both important to the story and so amazing. Kim's facial expressions are also very well done.

I will be reading #2 of 3 in the near future! ( )

Successfully straddles the line between frank and poetic sexuality - reading Ehwa's journey in becoming a woman was simply delightful. ( )

Completely unsure how to rate this one because of millions of conflicting feelings. I loved (and honestly was discomfited by) how frank and open the sexual discussions were. Human sexuality is shown as normal rather than shameful behavior, which was refreshing.

However, I wasn't sure I liked the emphasis on beauty and femininity and fragility that all the floral/botanical metaphors conferred. I don't like it when people, men especially, say they want to protect women by putting them on a high pedestal of hyper-femininity and innocence (something that happens in India in discussions of women as "goddesses" to be revered). I also dislike when women are treated as strange creatures men will never understand.

But at the same time, this is a historical piece and must be seen through that lens. I wasn't sure how much of the discomfort/annoyance I felt about the book were from my own modern American biases and ignorance about Korean culture and history in general. It's hard for me to gauge how important a feminist work this is without a frame of reference.

Definitely an interesting and thought-provoking read for sure!

This was delightful! Gorgeous art, and the translation seams are invisible (I get really annoyed when the English sounds obviously translated). It's very much about a young girl growing into her sexuality, and that sexuality is frank, in a way that I think should be perfectly appropriate for middle schoolers -- it's all innocent, from the girl's perspective -- but is not considered acceptable in mainstream American culture. ( )