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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. 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.A Bank Street Best Book of the Year - Outstanding MeritA Junior Library Guild Gold Standard SelectionA Book Riot Best New Book of 2023'An absolute must-read.'—Booklist, starred review'Vivid, powerful.'—School Library Journal'Moving.'—Publishers Weekly'Searing.... Beautifully written.'—Book Riot

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. Don't trust your neighbors. Don't 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 chaos--and 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 can't. 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 Children's Book Award FinalistAn ILA Intermediate Fiction Award WinnerAn American Library Association Notable Children's BookA Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the YearA Junior Library Guild SelectionA Bank Street Best Children's 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