Sook Nyul Choi

Many atrocities were committed during World War 2 by the Japanese, Germans, and Italians against other groups. In this book, it focuses on a Japan-dominated Korea as told in the POV of a young teenage girl. Her father and older brothers have been carted off to contribute to the cause.

While it's obvious that unpleasant things happen in this book, it avoids graphic detail that would be inappropriate for children, and presents the reality of war at an age-appropriate level, and has a lot of show more little details to make the story more real, such as the Japanese school program and the indoctrination they force upon the students to make them accept Japanese leadership. Overall a very good book, and while geared for an younger audience, is still worth reading. show less

I liked this book for three reasons. Firstly, This book tells more about the Korean culture and introduces differences between it and the American culture. The book also contains a few Korean words that help children to be more invested into the culture. For example, the grandmother (Halmoni = grandmother in Korean) makes Kimbap as a snack for the picnic. The book explains exactly what Kimbap is: “[it’s] made of rice, carrots, eggs, and green vegetables wrapped in seaweed.” Secondly, show more the language or the choice of words was easy to follow. I think this is an important factor, especially in children’s books, because it allows the reader to be more entertained and enjoy the story better. Thirdly, I enjoyed how even the main character, who was very passionate about her culture, seemed hesitant later in the story for her grandmother to meet her schoolmates because she was scared the students would make fun of the way her grandmother dressed or talked. I think many children who are from different backgrounds would feel this way at first but this story comforts the reader to be proud of their culture as Yumi, the main character, becomes even more passionate. Therefore, this book teaches several lessons for kids. show less

I like this book because the character is well developed. There are two main characters in the book, Yunmi, and her grandmother, which is Halmoni in Korean. Yunmi invited her grandmother to the picnic since Halmoni does not have any place to go while Yunmi is in the school. It shows well of how Yunmi wanted to give chance to her grandmother to have new friends, but it also shows how she worries of her friends might make fun of her grandmother at same time.

“Year of the Impossible Goodbyes” is definitely a book that should be used in class for kids to reflect on the human spirit. Although the setting is Japanese-occupied Korea during WW2 and plays an important part in the story line, kids should be able to relate to the characters in a generalized sense, knowing what is is like to be part of a family and how one might feel if their own family was torn apart like the one in the story. The story line is vivid and descriptive of the times, but show more lacks the type of depth that could be further explored in class with a self-reflection-type exercise. The book also serves to teach about an important time in history from a perspective other than that of the U.S. Books like this where the main characters are foreign help in teaching kids tolerance, compassion, understanding, and humanity, while American-only perspectives can sometimes inhibit these important lessons. show less