Rabbit And the Dragon King: Based on a Korean Folktale

The dragon rules the ocean deep and all its creatures. He is a great king - but an even greater hypochondriac. Though his physician can find neither cause nor cure for his latest ailment, the king believes he is not long for this world. "Here we go again," says the queen. After consulting with his court magician, the king is convinced that eating the heart of a rabbit will cure what ails him. Turtle volunteers to swim ashore and trick a rabbit into visiting the undersea palace. When the rabbit comes face-to-face with the dragon king and learns her fate, she shows that she has a few tricks of her own. Daniel San Souci's splendid retelling finds new riches in an ancient tale that was recorded as early as A.D. 642 during Korea's Shila Dynasty. Eujin Kim Neilan's breathtaking paintings depict a magical, underwater world, where dragons and turtles and rabbits mingle on the ocean floor. From the author and illustrator of In the Moonlight Mist comes a stunning new version of one of the best-loved folk-tales of Korea.

Daniel San?Souci has written and illustrated more than forty children's books and illustrated several books written by his brother, Robert San Souci, including The Legend of Scarface, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and a New York Times Best?Illustrated Picture Book. He lives in San Francisco.

Eujin Kim Neilan is the illustrator of The Best Winds, by Laura E. Williams, and In the Moonlight Mist: A Korean Tale, retold by Daniel San Souci. She lives in Natick, Massachusetts.