Description

With war looming on the horizon and winter setting in, can two children escape North Korea on their own?

Winner of the Freeman Book Award!

North Korea. December, 1950.

Twelve-year-old Sora and her family live under an iron set of rules: No travel without a permit. No criticism of the government. No absences from Communist meetings. Wear red. Hang pictures of the Great Leader. Dont trust your neighbors. Dont speak your mind. You are being watched.

But war is coming, war between North and South Korea, between the Soviets and the Americans. War causes chaosand war is the perfect time to escape. The plan is simple: Sora and her family will walk hundreds of miles to the South Korean city of Busan from their tiny mountain village. They just need to avoid napalm, frostbite, border guards, and enemy soldiers.

But they cant. And when an incendiary bombing changes everything, Sora and her little brother Young will have to get to Busan on their own. Can a twelve-year-old girl and her eight-year-old brother survive three hundred miles of warzone in winter?

Haunting, timely, and beautiful, this harrowing novel from a searing new talent offers readers a glimpse into a vanished time and a closed nation.

A Jane Addams Childrens Book Award Finalist
An ILA Intermediate Fiction Award Winner
An American Library Association Notable Childrens Book
AKirkus ReviewsBest Book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A Bank Street Best Childrens Book of the Year

Will ultimately be recognized as one of the best books on the Korean War.Education About Asia, the Association for Asian Studies

Paperback | $9.99
Published by Holiday House
Jul 12, 2022| 320 Pages| 5-1/2 x 8-1/4| Middle Grade (8-12)| ISBN 9780823444205