Star Fishing

by Sang-Keun Kim

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

From award-winning South Korean author-illustrator Sang-Keun Kim comes this precious nighttime tale about a boy who wonders if he's the only one still awake at night. On his quest to find solidarity in sleeplessness, the boy encounters a big bear, a little bear, a fox, a crab and a bunny, who are all happy to join the boy on his star-chasing adventure. Kim's gentle illustrations can easily fill the walls of a newborn nursery and the minimal text makes it easy to read "one more time" before bed.

A sleepless night turns into a marvelous adventure through the stars in this dreamy bedtime story

It’s the kind of night when you just can’t fall asleep.
You feel as though everyone in the world is asleep but you.
   
“Oh, I see a light!
Is somebody awake?”
   
Brimming with wonder and enchantment, award-winning author-illustrator Sang-Keun Kim’s Star Fishing imagines who else might be awake on a sleepless night—taking young readers and listeners on an adventure through the stars and into sweet dreams.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647001339
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	02/22/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	54
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sang-Keun Kim is the author-illustrator of Little Mole’s Worry, which was named the Best Picture Book of the Year in 2015 in South Korea, and has since been published in many languages. He is also the author of What’s In Your Bag? and Little Mole’s Wish, a bestseller in South Korea and his US debut. They have also been translated into multiple languages. He lives in South Korea.

Editorial Reviews

03/07/2022

When a sleepless pale-skinned child, clad in a white bunny suit, ventures out of bed, a message from the moon—“play with meeeeeee”—beckons the youth outside. Catching hold of a star on a thin string, the child is reeled upward by Little Rabbit, and the two kindred spirits sit side by side on a crescent moon, fishing for others who are similarly wakeful. After Crab, Fox, Big Bear, and Little Bear join the party, the group of night owls play amid a glowing starscape (“The stars aren’t sleepy, either!”) that provides an ideal canvas for Kim’s luminous colored pencil, pastel, and pen artwork. Fearing that Little Rabbit will be lonely on the moon after the child and friends return to their homes, the group creates constellations until slumber time arrives. Employing spare second-person narration and limited dialogue, Kim offers a sensitive, dreamlike lullaby for the restless. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Kim's dreamy tale is a timeless balm for those all-too-familiar nights of elusive sleep. . .The child, Little Rabbit and their new friends offer a welcoming community in which the sleepless need not feel alone." —Shelf Awareness

"A dreamy folkloric adventure with astronomical appeal that’s tailor-made for bedtime reading." —Kirkus Reviews

"Sweeping expanses of jewel-toned blues and airy teals make up the night sky, with dreamy scenes anchored by the glowing moon until the toy-like animals romp around in shower of stars. The winding down of the friends’ adventures will likely bring on the yawns, but for those particularly stubborn insomniacs, this could inspire some peaceful star gazing until sleep arrives."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Employing spare second-person narration and limited dialogue, Kim offers a sensitive, dreamlike lullaby for the restless."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Kim's dreamy tale is a timeless balm for those all-too-familiar nights of elusive sleep. . .The child, Little Rabbit and their new friends offer a welcoming community in which the sleepless need not feel alone."

Shelf Awareness

"Sweeping expanses of jewel-toned blues and airy teals make up the night sky, with dreamy scenes anchored by the glowing moon until the toy-like animals romp around in shower of stars. The winding down of the friends’ adventures will likely bring on the yawns, but for those particularly stubborn insomniacs, this could inspire some peaceful star gazing until sleep arrives."

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

2021-12-27
A South Korean import, translated by Ly, reimagines childhood insomnia.

An ungendered, light-skinned youngster dressed in a white rabbit sleeper is having trouble falling asleep. So, they entreat the moon to “come and play”; thus begins a magical, moonlight adventure in the velvety blue night sky. The moon rabbit (a South Korean mythical figure) holds a Huck Finn–style fishing rod, lets down the line baited with a radiant star, and, with a great yank, lifts the child up to the crescent moon. “Are we the only ones awake?” they wonder, and this question becomes a refrain as they cast the fishing line repeatedly, reeling in animals who are also wide awake in their habitats—a woodland fox, an undersea crab, and two polar bears. Perched on the moon, tot and animals, each with their own fishing rods now, soak their baits and share the reasons why they can’t get any shut-eye. Suddenly, their lines go taut as a vibrant cluster of golden stars strike, pulling everyone out into the sky for a playful sidereal romp. To capture the memories of the night, each character creates a namesake constellation before rabbit magics them home, fast sleep. Kim’s luminous illustrations do the heavy lifting in this enchanting fantasia narrated using simple, spare prose. Adults can use the story to introduce young children to the Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, Vulpecula, and Cancer constellations. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A dreamy folkloric adventure with astronomical appeal that’s tailor-made for bedtime reading. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews