Sondok by Sheri Holman

Rating: 4/5

Sŏndŏk, Princess of the Moon and Stars is another typical book in the series, but I found this one a little bit more interesting than normal just because it presented a setting than I’ve read nothing about: ancient Korea. And while the book suffers from that “But did this actually happen?” syndrome as all the early Royal Diaries books do, I thought that this was a plausible and interesting story about what Sŏndŏk’s early life might have been like, and what might have caused her to build the Ch’omsŏngdae Observatory (the oldest remaining astronomical tower).

While some of this book is clearly more speculative than other parts (the relationship between Chajang and Sŏndŏk comes to mind), and while I don’t know anything about the history of Korea, I do think that Holman did a great job explaining and developing the culture and beliefs of the time. I especially loved that instead of a diary format, it was presented as a collection of notes that Sŏndŏk wrote and placed (or burned?) in her grandmother’s urn. And the historical notes at the end do more to explain the interplay between Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shamanism at the time. The astronomy aspect was done well, too, as a way for the author to give some incentive as to why the real Sŏndŏk might have built an observatory.

All in all, I thought that the book was very well done and very interesting. I enjoyed the look at a country whose history I don’t know too much about, and that made the book more enjoyable for me even if it’s still just a standard book in the series.

Info: Sheri Holman; published 2002 by Scholastic

Genre: Children’s, Historical Fiction

Warnings: None

Recommended Age Range: 8+