Dear Juno Written by Soyung Pak Illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung Viking1999 ISBN 0-670-88252-6 • 32 pages (hardcover) When Juno's parents are too busy to read him a letter from his grandmother in Korea, Juno decides he can't wait for them to help, and opens the letter himself. No, he cannot read the Korean words, but there's more in the envelope than just the letter. Grandmother has sent along a few things--a dried flower and a photograph of herself with her cat. These little things tell Juno a lot: Grandmother has a new cat and she's planting a flower garden. Now Juno wants to write back--without help from mom and dad--but Grandmother can't read English. Juno knows just want to do. With its warm and elegant illustrations, Dear Juno is a picture book that crosses cultures and generations while encouraging children to find their own solutions.
				"Pak's story is economically told and sensitively focused through Juno's eyes. The tight construction is beautifully complemented by Hartung's blotted oil paint glazes in compositions that are both well designed and touching." – Publishers Weekly "The handsome layout, featuring ample white space and illustrations that cover anywhere from one page to an entire spread, perfectly suit the gentle, understated tone of the text. The realistic pictures, created by using oil-paint glazes on sealed paper, have a delightfully cozy feeling, making this a good choice for snuggling up and reading one-on-one." – School Library Journal "The illustrations, done in oil-paint glazes, are beautifully lit; the characters, particularly Grandmother, with her bowl of persimmons, her leafy garden, and her grey bun that looks "like a powdered doughnut," are charming." – Krikus Reviews “The muted colors of Hartung’s illustrations create a cozy atmosphere for Pak’s affecting story.” – The Horn Book “This sweet story is written with a childlike simplicity that kids will easily relate to, and Hartung’s oil glazed paintings depicting scenes of Juno’s American home and faraway Korea are a good match for the words.” – Booklist “A new classic....Susan Kathleen Hartung’s illustrations are a gentle and fluid accompaniment to the story. Faces are left relatively undefined, colors are bright but muted, and she plays some lovely tricks with perspective, showing us the distant lights of an American town or the enormous yellow glow of a firefly.” – The Boston Sunday Globe “Susan Hartung’s oil glazes share the translucency of water colors but with a flat tactility that brings textures of fabrics and hair strongly into the pictures. We often look down onto the small boy, and when, suddenly, we’re looking down through leaves at Grandma, the recurring angle of perspective draws the world together.” – The Chicago Tribune
Awards & Honors • Ezra Jack Keats Award • Children’s Literature Choice Award • Paterson Prize for Books for Young People • The Society of Illustrators 19th Annual ‘The Original Art’ Exhibition • The Society of Illustrators 43rd Annual Exhibition & Publication • National Council of Teachers of English Notable Children’s Book • Junior Library Guild Selection • AfterSchool KidzLit selection • Mazza Museum permanent collection
	Dear Juno is available in Paperback, Hardcover, and Library bindings. Click below to order your copy today.

Books