His loving family lives in a large apartment near Kim Il-sung Square. Life is normal and there is plenty of food. He dreams of becoming a general in the army. His father is an important military leader, his mother a teacher and his grandfather a doctor. Sungju plays with his toy soldiers and his father joins him to teach him war strategies. His favorite television cartoon is Boy General. Synopsis: Every Falling Star is the memoir of Sungju Lee, a North Korean (Joseon) boy who grows up in a privileged military family in Pyongyang. Prologue Opening: My toy soldier peers over a mound of dirt not far from where my father, abeoji, my mother, eomeoni, and I have just finished our picnic, near the Daedong River in Pyongyang. Themes: Life in North Korea, History, Family Relationships, Homeless Boys, Street Children, Gangs, Poverty, Loss, Survival, Escape, Multicultural, Hope But this true story of survival and determination allows young readers to learn about another culture where the freedoms they take for granted do not exist.Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea You may not want to believe the horrors of the modern state of North Korea. You may not believe the things that he was forced to endure at such a young age.

Then he and co-author Susan McClelland describe the four years of danger and desperation he endured after being abandoned by his parents. The book starts with a brief, never-before-told history of modern North Korea that puts Sungju’s personal story into context. Sungju richly recreates his scabrous story, depicting what it was like for a boy alone to create a new family with his gang, “his brothers,” to daily be hungry and to fear arrest, imprisonment, and even execution. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains. It’s against this backdrop that my story takes place.”

The book, the first of its kind aimed at young adults, is a first-person account of what it is like to be born and raised in a terrifying environment.” - The GuardianĮvery 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 was forced at age twelve to live on the streets and fend for himself.ĭedicating his book to those he left behind in North Korea, Sungju writes, “North Korea is indeed a Hermit Kingdom a true-to-life dystopian nation. “Presents North Korea as a horrifying real-life dystopia.

Every falling star author