Where's Halmoni?

By: Julie Kim

Published by Blue Star Press, 2026-01-06

“. . . features two young Korean American siblings who take a trip through a magical portal into a land filled with characters from old Korean fables. . . Kim is making a statement about the loss of culture among children of immigrants while also writing a book that returns some of that to them.” —Jay Caspian King, The New York Times Beautifully illustrated and told by debut author Julie Kim, this authentic voices picture book in graphic-novel style follows a young Korean girl and boy whose search for their missing grandmother leads them into a world inspired by Korean folklore, complete with mischievous goblins (dokkebi), a greedy tiger, a clever rabbit, and a wily fox. Two young children pay a visit to Halmoni (grandmother in Korean), only to discover she's not home. As they search for her, noticing animal tracks covering the floor, they discover a window, slightly ajar, new to their grandmother's home. Their curiosity gets the best of them, and they crawl through and discover an unfamiliar fantastical world, and their adventure begins. As they continue to search for their grandmother and solve the mystery of the tracks, they go deeper into a world of Korean folklore, meeting a number of characters who speak in Korean along the way, and learn more about their cultural heritage. This beautifully illustrated graphic picture book is filled with a number of Easter eggs for readers of all ages to discover, and is inspired by the Korean folktales that author and illustrator Julie Kim heard while growing up. Translations to Korean text in the story and more about the folktale-inspired characters are included at the end.