Every Falling Star - Sungju Lee

This is the story of a young man born and raised in North Korea. He lives a pretty sheltered life until one day it all changes. He moves out of his comfortable house in the city and ends up in a town where nothing seems to make sense anymore. Then his father leaves with the promise of coming back in a week. And when his father doesn't return, his mother disappears after saying she's headed to a relative's house to find food.

From that point on, Sungju is left alone to find his own way to survive. He turns to the only person in town he trusts, and eventually they form a gang to combat the famine that is gripping the country. They travel around getting exposed to things that most parents don't even like their children to know exist at that age. During this whole time, these boys never give up hope that they'll be reunited with their families one day.

Reading this book is heart-wrenching. I have two kids, and I couldn't even imagine them having to go through all that. And Sungju also had to face up to the truths of the things he'd been told his whole life being based on lies. It seemed like the loss of hope was harder to deal with than when his body was abused.

This book is aimed at teenagers, but I think it's an important book for adults as well. I appreciated the glossary at the end, but I wish the definitions had just been listed in parentheses after the words during the book. It's not a major issue, most of the words are easily identified by context clues. At the end of the book, there is also a list of discussion questions, and a Q&A with the author that was pretty interesting. I hope he finds his mother. Good Book!