Today I’m pleased and excited to welcome Aram Kim to Alphabet Soup. It’s official release day for her brand new picture book, No Kimchi for Me! (Holiday House)! This mouthwatering story follows on the heels of her heartwarming debut, Cat on the Bus (Holiday House), published in 2016.
I’ve been an Aram Kim fan ever since I first spotted one of her cat bakery illustrations online a couple of years ago. When I visited her website, I instantly fell in love with her pictures of multi-ethnic children and anthropomorphized animals. Her distinctive style exudes a refreshing child-like innocence — emotive, joyful, friendly, accessible, thoroughly charming. Best of all, she likes to draw all kinds of food! A kindred spirit for sure.
When we first connected via email awhile ago, we instantly bonded over our mutual love of food and children’s books, and I was excited to hear she was working on a picture book about kimchi pancakes. Fabulous idea! Since there are very few picture books featuring Korean food, Aram’s book is a rare treat.
In No Kimchi for Me!, Yoomi tries to find a way to eat her grandmother’s kimchi. She likes everything else Grandma makes (“dried seaweed, tiny anchovies, soft egg omelets”), but she draws the line at “stinky, spicy kimchi.”
To make matters worse, her two brothers call her a baby and refuse to play with her because she won’t eat kimchi. Yoomi’s determined to show them she’s definitely NOT a baby, and experiments with different ways of making kimchi more palatable. On a chocolate chip cookie or a slice of pizza? What about hiding it in some ice cream? Well, no.
Jama's Alphabet Soup 