Every falling star

About this book

Every Falling Star, the first book to portray contemporary North Korea to a young audience, is the intense memoir of a North Korean boy named Sungju who is forced at age twelve to live on the streets and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains. Sungju richly re-creates his scabrous story, depicting what it was like for a boy alone to create a new family with his gang, his "brothers"; to be hungry and to fear arrest, imprisonment, and even execution. This riveting memoir allows young readers to learn about other cultures where freedoms they take for granted do not exist.

Subjects

  • biography
  • boys
  • boys, juvenile literature
  • childhood and youth
  • family
  • history
  • homeless boys
  • korea, juvenile literature
  • korea (north)
  • outdoor life, juvenile literature
  • social conditions
  • street children
  • survival