ABOUT THIS BOOK

It is 1945, and courageous ten-year-old Sookan and her family must endure the cruelties of the Japanese military occupying Korea.  Police captain Narita does his best to destroy everything of value to the family, but he cannot break their spirit.  Sookan's father is with the resistance movement in Manchuria and her older brothers have been sent away to labor camps.  Her mother is forced to supervise a sock factory and Sookan herself must wear a uniform and attend a Japanese school.



Then the war ends.  Out come the colorful Korean silks and bags of white rice.  But Communist Russian troops have taken control of North Korea and once again the family is suppressed.  Sookan and her family know their only hope for freedom lies in a dangerous escape to Americancontrolled South Korea.



Here is the incredible story of one family's love for each other and their determination to risk everything to find freedom.


AWARDS

NOMINEE 1996 - Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
NOMINEE 1995 - Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award
WINNER 1993 - Kansas William White Master List
WINNER 1992 - Maine Student Book Master List
WINNER 1995 - Massachusetts Children's Book Master List