I Am the Subway

PreS-Gr 1–As the train narrating Kim’s enthralling book travels both above- and underground, so it reveals passengers’ visible and hidden dimensions. It carries “busy hearts” as a father sprints, to maximize time with his daughter; a diving granny who carries seafood to her daughter and granddaughter; a weary and fretful student returning from an afterschool hagwon tutoring; a small-time entrepreneur hawking gloves. Details—like the harried mom politely called “Aunty,” the tiny, crammed shoe-repair shop, streetscapes, and station names—ground the book in Seoul. Both sober ink and glorious watercolor washes suggest more than they show, of the place and the people: a kind, unemployed young man adds the only color to a bustling commute; a train aisle looks like green grass; faces are distinct and expressive but soft. Particular to Seoul but also universal, this book carries no tropes or types, just “unique lives of strangers,” as the train’s rhythmic ba-dum ba-dum comes to sound like a heartbeat. This is the work of an accomplished and prolific illustrator who is an equally gifted writer.