Like the tree planted to honor her birth, Pear Blossom is beautiful, and the pride of her elderly mother and father. But then her mother dies, and her father remarries. Pear Blossom’s stepmother resents her new daughter’s beauty and sets her to performing impossible chores. With the help of magical creatures—togkabis—she is able to accomplish each task, and triumph over her stepmother’s cruelty.

This story, longer than most, is made so by vivid illustrations depicting Korean culture. Well researched, Climo’s Pear Blossom shows us how young girls from Korea’s past were fully dependent upon the goodwill of the head of the household.

Definitely recommended for it’s cultural insights.

From School Library Journal-
“At once comfortingly familiar and intriguingly exotic, the text is especially noteworthy for its instructive but unobtrusive incorporation of Korean words.”

From Booklist-
“Heller’s paintings are exotically lush and colorful as well as engaging…An agreeable retelling of the Cinderella story.”