Sungju Lee was a child of privilege in North Korea, ready to serve Kim Il-Sung. Then life changed at the age of eleven when his family is sent away from the capital of Pyongyang. Sungju realizes that people are starving outside the capital in the 1990s North Korean famine. He learns how to survive by forming a gang with a group of boys who soon become the only family he has. This is not an easy story to read. Knowing that is all true (with the exception of names) is hard to consider. These boys are left orphans as their parents go to find food. The lengths which they go to find food makes you want to cry. He survives to write this story, but it is not easy. It makes me realize again how much we take for granted.
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She's not quite sure why her dad brought her and her brother, Simon, to North Korea. Mia was adopted from South Korea. However, her father wants her and Simon to come with him on a trip to North Korea where he will talk about food distribution for the people of North Korea. When her father sneaks out of their hotel room late at night, she knows something is up. But she never expected him to arrested the next day. What happens now that she and Simon are alone in a communist country? The beginning held my attention with dad sneaking off on a secret meeting. Then the story slowed for me because Simon and Mia had very little interaction. There is a reason for that, and they get to it finally. Then the story picks up as they near the Chinese border. The little side chapters are also sometimes interesting and sometimes confusing. They are from the Korean people that Simon and Mia come into contact with and what is happening from their perspective, but sometimes you have to go back to see where they fit in. I appreciated this story over all, and the ending is well worth the read. There is some cussing in the story, but it is more PG. |
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June 2021
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