Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Breaking the Spine. This feature highlights an upcoming release that I am excited about.
Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea by Sungju Lee
Release Date: September 13, 2016
Total Pages: 336
Publisher: Amulet Books
Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography
Goodreads • Amazon • Barnes and Noble
Goodreads Book Description
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.
Why I’m Excited
Ohhhhh, new genre, y’all! I don’t do a ton of non-fiction, and if I do I normally don’t post about it because I only read it to learn things, but this one seems different (probably because it’s geared more towards a young audience). I feel like this will feel less “textbooky” and more “story”, while still being totally factual, which is a wonderful change of pace. The description of this book is so intriguing, Sungju’s story sounds heartbreaking, but adventurous, and completely captivating. This will be refreshing against all the fiction that I read, and I can’t wait to dive into it!
No Time for Tiny Bookshelves 