Where On Earth Is My Bagel?

Review
By School Library Journal

Where on earth did Yum Yung get the urge to have a bagel? He has no idea, but desperate for one, he sends a message from his Korean village via pigeon to New York City for someone to send him one. While he waits, he asks the farmer, the fisherman, and the honeybee keeper for help, but none of them have ever heard of a bagel. Just after Yum Yung reaches Oh’s Heavenly Bakery, the bird returns without a bagel, but with the recipe. The baker gets the required ingredients from the boy’s new friends and makes one huge bagel. “It was so heavenly he could even taste the curious hole in the middle.” With charming gouache illustrations that evoke the intricate and colorful patterns found in Korean fabrics, this story mixes up cultures quite nicely. Bagel shapes abound, including a full moon with a cloud providing the hole as the middle. Pair this story with Ina Friedman’s HOW MY PARENTS LEARNED TO EAT for a fun program on foods in different cultures.