Open Books Challenge 2026: Set in South Korea or by a South Korean Author

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are suggestions that fit the 2026 category "In honor of Rochester's Sister City in Siheung City, South Korea, read a book by a South Korean author, or set in South Korea."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
RPL Staff
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Solo leveling. 1
Chugong
Paper Book
Known as the Weakest Hunter of All Mankind, E-rank hunter Jinwoo Sung's contribution to raids amounts to trying not to get killed. Unfortunately, between his mother's hospital bills, his sister's tuition, and his own lack of job prospects, he has no choice but to continue to put his life on the line...
Grass
Gendry-Kim, Keum Suk
Paper Book
Appeared on best of the year lists from The New York Times, The Guardian, and more! Winner of The Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Print Comic of the Year! Grass is a powerful antiwar graphic novel, telling the life story of a Korean girl named Okseon Lee...
The mermaid from Jeju : a novel
Hahn, Sumi
Paper Book
A POPSUGAR Best Book of December 2020 An AMAZON Editors Pick December 2020 A SHE READS Best Historical Fiction Novel Winter 2021 A BUSTLE Most Anticipated Winter 2021 Read A LIBRO.FM Influencer Pick, December 2020 Inspired by true events on Korea's Jeju Island...
The vegetarian : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE "[Han Kang's] intense poetic prose . . . exposes the fragility of human life."--The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ...
We do not part : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD, THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD, AND THE NBCC BARRIOS BOOK IN TRANSLATION PRIZE
The white book
Han, Kang
Paper Book
FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE "[Han Kang writes in] intense poetic prose that . . . exposes the fragility of human life."--from the Nobel Prize citation SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE * A "formally daring, emotionally...
Dark moon
Hybe
Paper Book
The seven most popular boys at Decelis Academy all share a secret--they're vampires. Keeping their identities concealed and dealing with their werewolf rivals is trouble enough, but the appearance of a mysterious new student only further complicates things. The girl, Sooha, also has hidden powers,...
How we share cake
Kim, Hyo-Å­n
Paper Book
From the creator of multi-award-winning I Am the Subway.  A Kirkus Best of 2024 A 2024 Horn Book Fanfare ★ "[A] sweetly hilarious tale" --Kirkus Reviews ★ "clever, humorous" --Horn Book Review ★ "delicious" --Shelf Awareness ...
Blue sky morning
Kim, Jihyun (Illustrator)
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of 2025 by The Center for the Study of Multicultural Childrens Literature Eunny and Mama notice the beauty of an ordinary day in this mindful picture book from the creator of The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky. Eunny wakes up slowly. Soon it's time for...
Beasts of a little land : a novel
Kim, Juhea
Paper Book
"A spectacular debut filled with great characters and heart." --Lisa See, author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan FINALIST FOR THE 2022 DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE · FINALIST FOR THE BALCONES FICTION PRIZE · LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN AWARD An epic story of love, war, and...
City of night birds : a novel
Kim, Juhea
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "This story left me thinking about the ways we overcome setbacks and redefine what truly matters." - Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club December '24 Pick) A once-famous ballerina faces a final choice--to return to the world of Russian dance that nearly broke...
Blood of the old kings
Kim, S ng-il (Science fiction writer)
Paper Book
Named a Best Fantasy Book of the Year by NPR, Amazon, Paste, and Book Riot! From award-winning Korean author Sung-il Kim & translated by the world-renowned Anton Hur, Blood of the Old Kings begins an epic journey unlike any other. There is no...
Blood for the Undying Throne
Kim, Sung-Il
Paper Book
Blood for the Undying Throne, the sequel to Blood of the Old Kings, from award-winning Korean author Sung-il Kim and translated by the world-renowned Anton Hur, is an epic fantasy adventure where the corpses of sorcerers power an empire and ordinary people rise up to tear it down...
Pachinko
Lee, Min Jin
Paper Book
In this New York Times bestseller, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan-the inspiration for the television series on Apple TV+.  In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored...
Free food for millionaires /
Lee, Min Jin.
Paper Book
Casey Han's four years at Princeton gave her many things, "But no job and a number of bad habits." Casey's parents, who live in Queens, are Korean immigrants working in a dry cleaner, desperately trying to hold on to their culture and their identity. Their daughter, on the other hand, has entered...
The jellyfish bus
Lee, Suhyeon (Illustrator)
A slow-moving jellyfish finds his groove transporting deep sea tourists in this story about the power of community Slowpoke the jellyfish bus loves his job transporting fellow sea creatures, but he struggles to keep up with demands for faster travel. After he's called into headquarters and...
Coding camp chaos
P'odoal ch'in'gu
Paper Book
When the robot soccer crew and their battle-robot rivals both attend the same coding camp, they get news that ramps up the competition. In the third book in the Robot Makers manhwa series, La Ion has been stuck in the middle of a rivalry between his new school's soccer robot club and...
The robot soccer competition
P'odoal ch'in'gu
Paper Book
The competition is on! Ever since La Ion transferred to a new school, the school's robot soccer club has been begging him to join. As the school's battle robot team also asks La Ion to be a member, he'll learn how a rivalry between the clubs started. And before long, he'll take his first...
Soccer robots vs. battle robots
P'odoal ch'in'gu
Paper Book
La Ion is happiest when he's on the soccer field with friends. So when he transfers to a new school, he's excited to see if it has a soccer club. But the kids he meets aren't kicking a ball around--they're controlling soccer robots! Soon La Ion is stuck in the middle of a rivalry between...
Magic candies
Paek, Hu?i-na
Paper Book
A quirky story about finding your voice, from internationally acclaimed author Heena Baek. Tong Tong could never have imagined what everyone around him was thinking. But when he gets hold of some magic candies, suddenly there are voices everywhere. He can hear how his couch feels,...
Moon pops
Paek, Hu?i-na
Paper Book
A witty, weird, and wonderful spin on a classic Korean folktale, the first picture book to be published in English by internationally acclaimed Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Heena Baek "Whimsically varied perspectives and the unusual depth of field offered by Baek's technique make...
Snowglobe 2
Pak, So-yo?ng
Paper Book
The groundbreaking Korean phenomenon that Entertainment Weekly called "The Hunger Games meets Squid Game" continues with even more dark secrets and shocking surprises. The temperature is rising and the truth at the center of Chobahm's frozen world will be revealed in the...
Snowglobe
Park, Soyoung
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The groundbreaking Korean phenomenon that Entertainment Weekly called "The Hunger Games meets Squid Game"--now in English for the first time! A COSMOPOLITAN BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR * A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST...
Omniscient reader's viewpoint. 01
Singsyong
Paper Book
AT THAT MOMENT, MY LIFE TOOK ON A DIFFERENT GENRE.As a struggling office worker, Dokja Kim's sole joy in life is an online novel so obscure that he's its only reader. Then one day the story comes to an end...and so does the world.People all around the globe suddenly find themselves being massacred...
Almendra
Son, W?n-p'y?ng 1979-
Paper Book
Yunjae nació con alexitimia, una enfermedad que le impide reconocer y expresar emociones, y que está asociada a un crecimiento inferior de la amígdala cerebral, generalmente del tamaño de una almendra. Su madre soltera y su abuela hacen todo lo posible por ayudarlo a relacionarse con los demás, si...
Door
Yi, Chi-hy n (Illustrator)
Paper Book
A New York Times Editors' Choice Book! "This remarkable wordless picture book bursts with buoyant energy as a boy finds the key to a long-unopened door and makes his way from drabness to a joyful, magical land." --The New York Times Book Review What's...
The picture bride
Yi, KÅ­m-i
Paper Book
Winner of the Nautilus Award for Historical Fiction "Lee Geum-yi has a gift for taking little-known embers of history and transforming them into moving, compelling, and uplifting stories. The Picture Bride is the ultimate story of the power of friendship--a must read...

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