Every Falling Star by Lee and McClelland - ADVISABLE

Lee, Sungju and Susan McClelland Every Falling Star, 299 pages. NON-FICTION.  Abrams (Amulet Books), 2016. $17. Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG/PG-13.

Sungju is a ten-year-old boy living in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, with his parents. Life is comfortable for Sungju. His father has a good job in the government military, he attends school, studies tae kwon do, and spends time with his dog. After the death of North Korea’s eternal leader, Kim Il-sung, things begin to change. Sungju’s family leaves the city and moves into the countryside. There he sees poverty, starvation and violence that he never knew existed. Soon, his own family falls into the same state as those around them. When Sungju loses his parents, he takes to the streets. This memoir chronicles his years living with his gang of brothers as they do whatever it takes to survive. He eventually escapes to become an outspoken critic of the country he once loved and an activist for human rights for North Korean defectors.

Without using harsh language or graphic portrayal of sex, drugs, and violence, this book tells the story of a survivor with simplicity and honesty. Sungju depicts the portrait of a patriot, in his early childhood years living comfortably in the city, and of a critic, as he sees the devastating effects of famine, poverty, and government neglect, during his years living on the street. I was drawn into the conflict he experiences as he struggles to reconcile the stories he was told as a child about the righteousness of North Korea’s eternal leader and the evils of the outside world, especially America, with his own real-life experiences and those of his gang of brothers as they lose their homes, families, and their faith in their country and its leaders. Given the current affairs surrounding North Korea, this timely book would provide a good example of how different life can be growing up in a country with politics and beliefs that are often at odds with the United States.

MS, HS - ADVISABLE. LMA, future elementary school teacher