My Freedom Trip by Frances Park and Ginger Park
This book is based on the life of the authors’ mother and of her dangerous journey from North to South Korea. The mother Soo, remembers when soldiers invaded the country and divided it between the North and the South. She remembers living in a quiet peaceful village and going to school with her friends and enjoying family time at home with her parents. One Night her father tells her, “Tonight I must go on a trip. A man named Mr. Han will guide me to South Korea. He knows of a secret passage where I will cross the border at the shallow end of the river” (Frances and Ginger Park 4). He tells her that he will go first then it will be her turn, then her mother. Soon after her father’s departure Mr. Han arrives and tells Soo it is her turn to take her trip. Sadly, she leaves her mother behind and goes with Mr. Han. As they travel they are faced with dangers but continue because Soo knows her father is waiting for her just across the river. Soon after she reunites with her father the Korean War breaks out and the river becomes heavily guarded by soldiers and no one is able to leave, forever separating Soo from her mother.
This book was printed in 1998 by Boyds Mills Press, Inc. and was written by Soo’s daughters Frances and Ginger Park. The Park sisters share their mother’s memories of Korea before the war, and of the grandmother, they never got to meet. They share their family’s history in order to bring awareness no not only Korea but the suffering they had to face due to war and having to flee their homeland in order to find freedom. In 1999 this book also won the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award and since then the sisters have written many more children’s books and books about Korea before and after the war. Here is a link to their website. I also added a link to the website Liberty in North Korea Refugee Rescues which is a group of people who dedicate their lives helping people flee from North Korea.
http://www.parksisters.com/childrens-books/my-freedom-trip/
https://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/rescue-refugees/
