So Far From the Bamboo Grove

I love how this book is told from a children’s perspective during WWII. It was so neat to hear about the war through a child’s eyes because it deals with emotions and the struggles that Yoko, the main character, had to go through, which students to not learn about in textbooks. Yoko is a child growing up in Korea during the end of World War II and since she is Japanese, Yoko and her family are forced to flee Korea when the Korea Communist army comes to kill the entire family. Her family is constantly in danger because Yoko’s father works for the Japanese government. The book takes us through her struggles on the journey with her family.

The cover of this book is a colorful picture portraying Yoko, her mother and her sister huddled in a bamboo grove trying to hide from the Korean Communist Army. The writing is straightforward, and surprisingly easy to read since English is Yoko’s third language. It is safe to say that the writing in this book was vivid and riveting, I did not put this book down for more than a minute. The writing was suspenseful and flowed from one point to the next. This book delivers intelligence, adventure, sadness, love, and horrifyingly violent accounts without dwelling aimlessly on the past.