Hope Lim – författare

When a young boy and his mother travel overseas to her childhood home in Korea, the town is not as he imagined. Will he be able to see it the way Mummy does?This gentle, contemplative picture book about family origins invites us to ponder the meaning of home. A young boy loves listening to his mother describe the place where she grew up, a world of tall mountains and friends splashing together in the river. Mummy’s stories have let the boy visit her homeland in his thoughts and dreams, and now he’s old enough to travel with her to see it for himself. But when mother and son arrive, the town is not as he imagined. Skyscrapers block the mountains, and crowds hurry past. The boy feels like an outsider – until they visit the river where his mother used to play, and he sees that the spirit and happiness of those days remain. Sensitively pitched to a child’s-eye view, this vivid story honors the immigrant experience and the timeless bond between parent and child, past and present.

Spare, layered text and soft, shimmering watercolour illustrations reveal how curiosity – and a change in perspective – can light up the world and forge surprising friendships.Every day, while walking their dog, a child passes a woman seated in her wide front window. What is she doing? What does she see? Days pass, and the two neighbours exchange smiles, nods and waves. Soon they’re calling out “Hello!” But one day, the child finds the wide window empty and a For Sale sign outside. When the opportunity to look out through, instead of up into, that now-lonely window arrives, the rewards ripple out in heartwarming ways.This beautifully illustrated picture-book ode to intergenerational friendship invites readers to reflect on how a different frame of reference can utterly transform the familiar and lead to completely new delights.