So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashawa Watkins

This book was a great book on it's own but when paired in a text set with "A Year of Impossible Goodbyes" the story has a deeper meaning. These books both talked about the occupation of Korea by the Japanese during World War II. Each story was told from the point of view of a child from each of the countries. There were many differences between the way the eleven year old in this story viewed war compared to the way that myself and many other people in the United States view war. I have never lived in the country where there was a war being fought which makes a drastic difference. There are many times I forget that there is even a war going on since it is going on so far away from home. The little girl in this story loses family members and many belongings because of this war which is hard for anyone to handle, especially someone so young. There were many times while reading this story that I tried to put myself into her shoes and imagine how hard it would be to lose family and I thought about how important family is to me. The video we watched in class of the children talking about these two books really shows how important it is to look at both sides of a situation and realize that while you may side with the "underdog" narrator in one of the stories, there is always a different side and it may not be easy for those on that side either.