A Very Asian guide to Korean food by Michelle Li, illustrated by Sunnu Rebecca Choi

 I almost never review titles that aren't available through Baker and Taylor, my primary vendor, but I agreed to look at this title for several reasons - first, because we have a small population of Asian families in our area, primarily Japanese but also some Korean and Chinese families. They come as students to the university in a neighboring city, usually through the Kikkoman factory located in the area. Secondly, because we have waves of interest in manga and anime that often means I have younger kids, especially fifth graders, interested in Asian food, history, and culture and it can be difficult to find titles for them that are appropriate for their age range. So, I took a look at this in egalley and then in hard copy format.

The author created this celebration of Korean food after dealing with racist remarks on social media and to support kids dealing with bullying and othering about their culture. It's a slim volume, about 12" by 6" with paper over board binding and the back cover includes promotions from chefs and authors.

Each spread features a different Korean food, how it is prepared, and how it is served and eaten. There is also a "very" label. For example, the spread on bibimbap is labeled "Very Colorful" and includes a simple description of the dish and how it is made, how to pronounce it, and small paragraphs dotted around the illustration adding information like the sauce it is served with, how it is served, its history, and how people like to eat it. Labels include "Very Shareable," "Very Snackable," "Very Hot," and many more. The one thing that confused me was that all of the people depicted in the illustrations have an odd round circle on their face, contrasting with their skin color. I couldn't figure out if this was an idiosyncrasy of the illustrator's style or an artistic convention I'm not familiar with. Otherwise, the staged art clearly showed the illustrator's work with printmaking and the depictions of the foods are colorful and attractive. A variety of hair styles, body types, and races are shown in the people pictured. A recipe is included in the back.

Verdict: This isn't a storytime style book, more a browsing title or something school-age readers will enjoy sharing with an adult. If you have the audience for it, it's worth taking a little time to chase down a copy - it looks like it is available directly from the publisher only at this time. There are plans for publishing additional titles on different Asian cultures in the future and I hope they will be more widely available.

ISBN: 9781737240426; Published October 2022 by Gloo Books; Egalley and hardcover review title provided by publisher; Donated to the library