Brother’s Keeper by Julie Lee - ESSENTIAL

 Brother’s Keeper by Julie Lee, 320 pages. Holiday House, 2020. $18 

Content: G (some deaths) 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

12yo Sora wants to be in school, but instead she is laboring at home, being forced by her mother to learn how to be a good Korean wife and caring for her 8yo brother. As the Communists start to tighten their grip on the North of Korea, the family decides it is time to make the long trek to the south. Along the way, however, the family gets separated and Song will have to do all she can to get her brother to safety. 

I don’t want to say too much – your reader’s should discover the details of Song’s journey and the aftermath on their own. I love being immersed into the Korean war through the eyes of a local – no American savior’s here. There is plenty of real danger here, and a lovely story of a girl rising above her “place”. 

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS