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Title details for The House Before Falling into the Sea by Ann Suk Wang - Available

The House Before Falling into the Sea

by Ann Suk Wang
Ami Park
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
Kirkus Best Books of the Year
Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist
2024 Freeman Book Awards
Horn Book Fanfare
***Three starred reviews***
A child and her family take in refugees during the Korean War in this poignant picture book about courage and what it really means to care for your neighbors.
Every day, more and more people fleeing war in the north show up at Kyung Tak and her family’s house on the southeastern shore of Korea. With nowhere else to go, the Taks' home is these migrants' last chance of refuge “before falling into the sea,” and the household quickly becomes crowded, hot, and noisy. Then war sirens cry out over Kyung's city too, and her family and their guests take shelter underground. When the sirens stop, Kyung is upset—she wishes everything could go back to the way it was before: before the sirens, before strangers started coming into their home. But after an important talk with her parents, her new friend Sunhee, and Sunhee’s father, Kyung realizes something important: We’re stronger when we have each other, and the kindness we show one another in the darkest of times is a gift we’ll never regret.
*”A poignant tale of light in the darkness—and compassion in times of war.”—Kirkus Reviews

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 1, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9798217066810
      • File size: 7543 KB
      • Duration: 00:15:42

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 22, 2024
      A girl encounters injustice when travelers seeking safety arrive at her family’s seaside home in this delicately rendered Korean War narrative, based, per an author’s note, on family experiences. Kyung spots the approaching individuals looking “like oval stones” under heavy packs: “Umma hurried them in. Appa slid the lock shut. In the distance, war sirens cried out over Busan.” The child is tasked with welcoming guests, but space grows tighter day by day, and the sirens get closer until they “found us. They shook the earth,” and everyone shelters underground. As Kyung cries for “everything to go back,” Umma explains how “our visitors are not stones we can toss to the sea”—and the importance of loving and helping those who have no place to go. Cha’s moody multimedia art fluidly depicts the restless sea alongside Kyung’s changing emotions in this story that muses on internal and external landscapes. Creators’ notes, reader questions, and a glossary conclude. Ages 4–8.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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