King Sejong Invents an Alphabet by Carol Kim, illustrated by Cindy Kang

 

King Sejong Invents an Alphabet by Carol Kim,

illustrated by Cindy Kang

Albert Whitman & Company, 2021, 32 pages

This is the story of a king who loved books and reading so much he wanted to share that love with all the people in his kingdom. But how could he do that when Korean had no alphabet?  Born in Gyeongbakgung Palace in 1397, as a boy, Yi Do loved to read. And he was lucky, because only those who were a members of the royal court could learn how to read, because that required knowing how to read and write Hanja, the complex Chinese characters that were used in Korea because there was no Korean alphabet. Unfortunately, that meant that most people in Korea could not read since learning Hanja required time and money.

Even after his father hide his books, young Yi Do was overjoyed to find one book that had been missed. He loved books and learning so much that he read the missed book over and over. Years later, his father realized how valuable his son's love of learning was, believing it  would make him a good leader and chose him to be the next king at age 21, changing his name to Sejong. After an unfortunate incident between a father and son,  Sejong had a book printed and given out all over the country in an effort to teach the people to honor their parents. But no one could read the book because no one knew how to read Hanja. 

Dismayed, Sejong realized that what Korean needed was its own alphabet instead of the complex Hanja characters. But how does one invent an alphabet that would match the spoken Korean language and be easy to learn? And how to do it secretly since the yangban or ruling class didn't want to give any power to the people or sangmin class.

Sejong spent many years working in secret on a Korean alphabet and finally in 1443, he released an alphabet of twenty-eight letters, which was later called Hangeul or "the great script." And yes, the yangban did protest the use of the alphabet, but now that they could read, imagine how much the lives of the Korean people were improved. All thanks to one young boy's love of books, reading, and learning and wanting to share that.

King Sejong Invents an Alphabet is a deceptively simple yet very informative biography of both King Sejong and the Hangeul alphabet. Coupled with Carol Kim's engaging text works in harmony with Cindy Kang's colorfully detailed illustrations that reflect Korean life in the 15th century. 

Back matter includes more information about the Hangeul alphabet and why it is an ingenious design, its fate after King Sejong died and the long journey to its acceptance, as well as Selected Sources and Source Notes.

This is an excellent book to include in diverse libraries, whether public, school or home libraries. 

Thank you, Edelweiss+ for providing me with a digital ARC of this book.