Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi

This book is about a young girl (Sookan) and her family who live in North Korea during WWII when her country was occupied by Japan. After suffering abuse from the Japanese, the war is over and they are free.....until the Russians occupy North Korea. Sookan must try to flee to South Korea with her mother and younger brother where it is safe to meet up with her father and three older brothers.

I like this book because of the emotions that it evoked. I couldn't imagine going through what this family has gone through. The books I remember reading in elementary school are the ones that evoked emotion such as Mick Harte was Here, Number the Stars, and Bridge to Terabithia. Kids don't always want to read about the perfect family living the perfect life. They want something that they can relate to and having books like this is very helpful to students and can help them grow as readers.

I felt this book took a little long to get going. It started out slow and I thought I was going to have a hard time finishing it. But before I knew it, the book picked up and I couldn't put it down. I had to see if they made it to South Korea safely. This book left me with questions but I think this is what good books do. For example, I was curious about the "farmer" that was paid to take Sookan, her brother, and mother across the border. The kids got separated from their mother and was informed by a lady working at a hotel that their guide was actually a double agent and was paid by the police to turn in the traitors. Because of this information, the kids left before the guide could return. I am wondering if this was necessarily true. It could be that the guide was a double agent but he was also paid well to bring them across the border so maybe he would have done that. I am curious as to whether or not the guide would have actually turned them in. Either way, whether he turned them in or not, the story would have been different. This is an amazing book of courage and I would recommend it for readers ages 10 and up.