The authors of “My Freedom Trip – A Child’s Escape from North Korea” have my admiration. It is a sad and beautiful story that is told with just the right voice. Though it is made for children, it’s really a story for all ages.

The story is about a little girl who knows that Korea has been divided in half. It is about her journey to escape from North Korea to be with her father who has already crossed the border and the mother that she left behind. You can feel the emotion in the words and see them in the wonderful pictures by Debra Reid Jenkins. It is all the more poignant because the authors used stories that their own mother told as the inspiration for this book.

When I first picked out this book, I almost didn’t write about it for this blog because it was about North Korea and most of the Korean adoptees are from the south. However, the historian in me wouldn’t let me not include it because North Korea and South Korea are tied together by a common past and hopefully a common future.

There are a few things that I think young Korean adoptees can take from the story. First, they learn a little bit about the culture and the history of the country that they were born in. Second, they can read a story where all of the characters are Korean. Finally, they can know that the authors of this book are Korean just like them.
Here are some possible discussion questions that you could use with this book:

1. Do you have any questions about Korea? Is there anything you would like to learn about?

2. Did you see that the authors are both Korean? Would you like to find other books by Korean authors? Would you like to learn about famous Korean people?

You can purchase this book at any of the major booksellers or borrow it from your local library.

If you would like to comment, but not on this site, please feel free to e-mail me at adoptkoreablog@adoptionmail.com.