Land of Morning Calm: Then and Now by John Stickler explores Korean Culture in a way that the reader can easily connect with, even if they have no prior knowledge about Korean culture. Land of Morning Calm is a colorful introduction to Korean culture geared towards elementary students. This vibrant book gives the reader an opportunity to explore another culture through colorful pictures and interesting facts while addressing a broad range of cultural topics. The book intersperses facts with brief anecdotal statements about Korean cultural topics ranging from the origins of the Korean people and their history, to spirituality, religion, language, martial arts, dance and clothing. The book is well organized giving the reader the opportunity to travel from the origins of Korean culture to more modern cultural phenomena. Children and adults reading this book are able to see both the facts about Korean culture while gaining a better understanding of the history behind such iconic representations of Korea as the Hangul alphabet. John Stickler explores Korean cultural icons such as Taekwondo and Kimchi giving the reader both historical and modern context while the illustrations give the reader a glimpse of these sometimes foreign words. Information in this book is not too in-depth for the novice reader but provides just enough information on many topics leaving the reader to look for more on the factoids that interested them.
Kelly Lutkiewicz
17 November 2014
Review
