"Let me give you some advice. You won't have much of a future as an orphan girl. Your only saving grace is your brother; at least he is a son who can carry on your family name and support you once he has grown. Take care to of him; put his needs before your own. That's how you survive in this world."
War arrives in North Korea. Sora Pak, her father Abahji and mother Omahni, baby brother Jisoo and younger brother Youngsoo live in fear of punishment or banishment by the communist regime. There are informers everywhere. The family have hidden their precious bible and they only speak against the authorities with their closest friends the Kim family. Mr and Mrs Kim tell Sora's parents they are planning to leave and take their son Myung-gai and daughter Yoomee and head to South Korea to the town of Busan. At first the Pak family think this will be too dangerous they even try to hide Abahji in a hole in their field but then things escalate and they now have to flee.
Sora is told to look after her brother Youngsoo. Her mother says - he is your responsibility. Sora has no idea how these words will impact her life. The family are separated early in the journey and Sora is left with just her brother and a 300 mile destination. The journey is arduous and treacherous; the siblings have no food, and survive mainly by finding kimchi hidden in abandoned farmhouses But Sora is a very intelligent girl and she is a survivor.
Sora must get herself and her eight-year-old brother, Youngsoo, to South Korea alone--across rivers, over mountains, around enemy soldiers and border guards, and even through Pyongyang itself, all while staving off frostbite and starvation. Can two children survive three hundred miles of war zone in winter? Julie Lee
Since this is loosely based on her own mother's experience, the notes and photographs about this make this story even more powerful. There are so many good things about this book that it's hard to list them all. Even the cover is excellent! Ms Yingling
A journey of wartime survival parallels the strength Sora needs to fight for her own dreams. Kirkus Star review
Anyone labouring under the delusion that historical fiction is dull will be disabused of that notion after reading this book. There is plenty of action and suspense. Sora is a fascinating protagonist: she’s smart and dreams of a future as a teacher or writer, yet still wants her parents’ approval and tries to be a good daughter (which means giving up school to take care of her brothers). Kids Book a Day
This book is for mature readers aged 11+ and I do need to warn you (spoiler alert) the ending is not a fairy tale. The words "and they all lived happily ever after" do not apply to this book. This is a long book 300 pages but I was totally engrossed in the story and desperate for the two children to survive. The scene when they finally climb on board a train is quite harrowing and may distress some readers. Sora takes such good care of her brother and so the scolding she receives from her mother when they do arrive in Busan is utterly dreadful.
Awards:
- 2020 Freeman Book Award Winner
- 2021 International Literacy Association Children's and Young Adults' Book Award Winner
- 2020 Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist
- 2021 ALA Notable Children's Book
- Junior Library Guild Selection
- 2021 ALA Rise Selection
- 2021 Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year - with Outstanding Merit
- Kirkus Best Middle Grade Book of 2020
We meet Myung-gai Kim in the first book and his story continues in the sequel or companion book which will be published this year:
Bookseller blurb: Trapped in an enemy tunnel, a young refugee experiences the Korean War firsthand in this searing story of survival, loss, and hope, a companion to the Freeman Award-winning novel Brother's Keeper. Myung-gi knows war is coming: War between North and South Korea. Life in communist North Korea has become more and more unbearable--there is no freedom of speech, movement, association, or thought--and his parents have been carefully planning the family's escape. But when his father is abducted by the secret police, all those plans fall apart. How can Myung-gi leave North Korea without his dad? Especially when he believes that the abduction was his fault? Set during a cataclysmic war which shaped the world we know today, this is the story of one boy's coming-of-age during a time when inhumanity, lawlessness, and terror reigned supreme. With only each other, Myung-gi, his mother, and his twelve-year-old sister Yoomee do everything they can to protect one another. But gentle, quiet, bookish Myung-gi has plans to find his father at any cost--even if it means joining the army and being sent to the front lines, where his deepest fears await him.
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