The Have a Good Day Cafe

I enjoyed reading the journey of a Korean family learning to adjust to America while continuing their culture. The plot was simple and easy to follow as less customers visit the food stand until the family decides to make Korean food. I liked that the characterization was multi-dimensional with curious children and wise grandparents whose views change throughout. I did not like the unrealistic Korean people illustrations. I felt they were very stereotypical. The message of this story is to be careful not to assimilate while you adjust to new experiences. The family business improved when they chose to sell their Korean food rather than American hot dogs.

In my opinion, this was a good book. It is about a Korean family who has a food cart where they sell food on the corner of a street. The Grandmother had recently moved to America and she was reluctant to accept her new surroundings. After other food carts moved closer to the corner, the family began to lose money. The grandson and grandmother had the idea of selling authentic Korean food. Once they started selling this, they began to prosper again. The language was descriptive and also had Korean terms dispersed throughout the book. I thought that this was very beneficial because the reader can learn about different parts of the Korean culture. The characters were well-developed; the grandmother showed reluctance, but once she felt more show more comfortable and had more of her Korean culture around her she began looking to the future. The illustrations enhanced the story and were appropriate. When the family started to lose business, the weather became very stormy and gloomy and, as a result, the illustrations were much darker. But as soon as they started selling the Korean food, and business began to prosper, the weather improved and the illustrations became brighter. Thus, the illustrations effectively reflected the mood of the story. The big idea of this book was that it is important to incorporate ones culture throughout different aspects of ones life. show less

I like this book because I like how it talks about Korean food and it mixes some Korean words with English words. There is a boy and his grandma who live together with the boy’s mom and dad. In the beginning of the book, the boy and the grandma talk about making guk bap which is Korean food. I have never heard of it before so it was interesting for me to read. It was also interesting because the boy’s parents were venders on a corner of the street and were selling American food and they were having difficulty selling food. The parent’s would tell their customers, “Have a good day,” and the grandma said that in Korea they would say, “Annyonghi Kasipsio.” After a tough day of selling American food, the boy and his grandma show more had an idea to sell Korean food instead and they made all these Korean foods to sell the next day. The theme of this book is that you can bring cultures from other parts of the world to America. We see this when the family sells the Korean food instead of American food. show less

I really enjoyed this book because of the incorporation of food culture into a children's book. I like how the author took into consideration how big of a role food plays into cultural identity and included descriptions of each traditional Korean dish so that someone who has never had it could know what it is made out of. I did not like how the Grandmother was negative about coming to America in the beginning because it made the child in the book upset and seemed like an unnecessarily negative aspect of the book. The big picture was to be proud of your heritage and even to share it with others as they did with their food!

The Have a Good Day Café is a picture book about a young Korean-American boy whose family owns a food cart that runs into trouble because a lot of other food carts set up on their corner. The boy’s grandmother is homesick for her country and she and the boy come up with a way for her to be less homesick and to save their family’s food cart. The message of this story is the uniqueness of family heritage. I really enjoyed this book. One thing that I really enjoyed was the integration of Korean words into the story. For example, when the boy says “Have a Good Day,” his grandmother says that she loves that expression and that there is a similar one in Korean “Annyonghi Kasipision.” A second thing I loved about the story was how show more the family’s Korean heritage ended up saving their food cart. The young boy is frustrated in the beginning of the story because his grandmother is homesick. He wants her to realize that America is her home. However, later on in the story, the boy and grandmother work together to make Korean food for the family’s food cart. The boy and the grandmother both realize that they can keep their Korean heritage even though their home is in America. show less

I liked this book because it is different than most I have read, and I hardly have ever seen a book written where the plot was based around a food cart. Although, as an adult, I found the ending kind of predictable. The Grandmother and her grandson, Mike, were very believable as characters. This makes the book more interesting to read. Mike acts like a typical child and becomes annoyed wishing she would stop when his Grandmother keeps saying she misses her home in Korea. When she does this she is constantly reflecting on the past and where she used to live. I did like that the Grandmother pushed to be involved in life in America and didn't mind trying to be American. She did this by trying to help with the food cart to help the parents show more make money. The message for this book to me would be to not forget your culture and background and where you came from because it is important and can make a big difference. show less

I really enjoyed this book for two reasons. First and foremost, I liked the big idea of this book. I liked that the story encourages the reader to stay true to their culture and beliefs and be proud of their heritage. The Korean American family in the story has a food cart that sells American food, but as competition around them grows, they begin to sell Korean food, which is turns out to be very successful. I also liked that the book is centered on family. For instance, the family travels together into the city to sell food from the cart and at the end; the grandma and grandson make the Korean food together to sell from the cart. I could make a personal connection to this story as my grandma and I always bake cookies together around show more the holidays, so it made the book more meaningful for me. show less