A Year of Impossible Goodbyes

This book deals with the same issues as "So Far from the Bamboo Grove" but in a completely different perspective. This comes from the perspective of a 10 year old Korean girl who survives the oppressive Japanese and Russian occupations of North Korea during the 1940's and tells the tale of her eventual escape to South Korea. This book, since I read after reading "So Far from the Bamboo Grove" was not as powerful image wise to me. I think that I do have a biased opinion since I read the other book first and already formulated ideas of what this time period and the events that took place. I do think this book is controversial as well, but not quite as graphic or detailed as the first book. I think that since both books tell different sides it would be proper to teach both books at the same time to young children to make sure that they understand that these are perspectives and not 100% truth. I think that this gives the teacher a very teachable moment because it allows them to discuss the fact that people can remember or record things differently and relate it to their lives. For instance, you could use the fact that these two books are so different and relate it to two different people's stories of how a fight broke out on the playground. After reading both of these books I do think that if you teach one, you should most likely teach the other one just for a different perspective, without telling or influencing the students on which one they think is right.