ABSTRACT
Picture books produced in South Korea or in the large Korean diaspora in the USA invite an imagological analysis because of their intense focus on identity and the social circle of contemporary society within which children are growing up, and because of the differences of emphasis between the two areas. The corpus selected for this essay, which takes an imagological approach, samples the major themes of Korean and Korean American picture books: experiences of everyday life; identity within a conflicted country; the impact of a traumatic past; migration; and transnational adoption. The essay argues that the reception process is structured by a network of schemas and scripts, and through this network specific images are endowed with cultural power.
