About this item
Long ago in Korea, a young boy named Sunsin spent his days playing with his pet turtle Gobugi and dreaming of sailing around the world. As a poor villager, though, his dream to travel seemed impossible. Then one day, the king's court announced a contest to find the best design for a new battleship to defend the land from invaders. The winner would sail the ocean with the royal navy. Determined to win, Sunsin attempts to build an indestructible battleship with a few found items. Each attempt fails miserably against the powerful sea, and with it Sunsin's dream also sinks to the bottom. Turning to Gobugi for comfort, Sunsin notices how his pet turtle is small but mighty, slow but steady, and impossible to sink. Suddenly, Sunsin has a great idea. Loosely based on Admiral Yi Sunsin and the Turtle War Ship (Keo-Book-Sun) , debut author Helena Ku Rhee and debut illustrator Colleen Kong-Savage introduce young readers to a fascinating episode in Korean history and naval engineering.
About the Author
Helena Ku Rhee is a children's book author & essayist based in Los Angeles. Her picture books include SORA'S SEASHELLS (illustrated by Stella Lim & Ji-Hyuk Kim) , ROSA'S SONG (illustrated by Pascal Campion) and its companion book THE PAPER KINGDOM (also illustrated by Pascal Campion) , which landed on many Best of 2020 lists, including NPR, BookPage, Parents Magazine, Kirkus, the Los Angeles Public Library, Amazon, and more. Helena also wrote THE TURTLE SHIP (illustrated by Colleen Kong-Savage) as well as essays for publications such as the Los Angeles Times and Salon. Listen to her 6-minute interview on NPR: Helena wrote the popular article for Salon, "Making sense of a senseless world: how children's books can mitigate the horror around us" -- Visit Helena at:
