The House Before Falling into the Sea

by Ann Suk Wang, Hanna Cha (Illustrator)

Overview

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.

***Three starred reviews***
*”A poignant tale of light in the darkness—and compassion in times of war.”—Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593530153
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/12/2024
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	411,505
Product dimensions:	10.94(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.34(d)
Lexile:	AD620L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ann Suk Wang, born in Korea, is a graduate of UCLA and Boston University in mass communications and a former journalist. She lives in California with a husband, two sons and a canine son. The House Before Falling Into the Sea is her first picture book.

Hanna Cha, Caldecott honor- and APALA winning-illustrator of The Truth About Dragons, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. She spent her childhood in both Korea and America and currently lives in Boston, where she loves crinkling her nose in the early morning breeze and snuggling her tiger-like cat, Hobac. Hanna is also the illustrator of Circle Round and author-illustrator of Tiny Feet Between the Mountains.

Editorial Reviews

01/22/2024

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. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

This gorgeous picture book depicts a historical moment rarely, if ever, covered in picture books—the Korean War—with stunning illustrations and deft prose that centers on a young girl’s experience. . . . It’s an accessible, compassionate, and lovely picture book."—Book Riot

*“Drawing from her own family’s experiences, Wang has crafted a lyrical gem of a story. Adopting a child’s perspective, the author manages to make topics such as warfare and loss of one’s home comprehensible to a young audience, while Cha’s bold strokes and splashes of color convey movement and enhance the emotional weight of the subject."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

*“Cha’s illustrations pay exquisite attention to the beauty of the seaside landscape, using color to intensify the experience of being near the ocean. Vibrant greens and blues swirl, producing the feeling of an ever-moving sea, while wheaty shades of tan create sand and scrub, all of which contrast with the darkness of a makeshift air raid shelter where women and children hide. This gorgeously illustrated book contains surprisingly beautiful turns of phrase and metaphors (“we sat like two quiet hills, the breeze combing through our hair”). A touching homage to the author’s own grandparents’ hero'sm, which also offers rare insight into complex feelings about personal sacrifice and witnessing the suffering of others.”—The Horn Book Review, starred review

*“Wang’s story, based on her mother’s account of growing up in a household that welcomed people displaced during the Korean War, is a touching narrative that focuses mainly on the children’s experiences. The back matter includes an informative glossary and notes from both the writer and the illustrator, whose grandmother lived near the story’s setting as a teenager. Cha’s expressive mixed-media illustrations reflect the characters’ emotions and recreate the beautiful setting in this moving picture book.”—Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2023-12-16
During the Korean War, a family adjusts as they take in refugees in their Busan home.

As Umma and Appa usher the families inside their small coastal home, Kyung Tak is asked to welcome them. Among the strangers, Kyung finds a friend, Sunhee, who cries as she tells Kyung how men from the north took her father’s fishing boat. Kyung gives the older girl a fish-shaped stone for comfort. As more people arrive, the constant noise, increasing chores, and lack of space start to take a toll. A siren sounds one day, and everyone rushes to the underground shelter to wait in the darkness. Even after they emerge, Kyung feels the darkness linger and cries, longing to return to life before the war, before they took in so many strangers. The family comforts Kyung, and the guests reveal that they nicknamed the Taks’ home “the house before falling into the sea” because if it weren’t for the family’s kindness, they might have been chased by soldiers off the cliffs. Drawing from her own family’s experiences, Wang has crafted a lyrical gem of a story. Adopting a child’s perspective, the author manages to make topics such as warfare and loss of one’s home comprehensible to a young audience, while Cha’s bold strokes and splashes of color convey movement and enhance the emotional weight of the subject.

A poignant tale of light in the darkness—and compassion in times of war. (author’s and illustrator’s notes, questions to consider, glossary, guide to Korean names) (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews