Rice from Heaven: The Secret Mission to Feed North Koreans

Rice from Heaven: The Secret Mission to Feed North Koreans

by Tina Cho

“We reach a place where mountains become a wall. A wall so high, no one dares to climb. Beyond that wall and across the sea live children just like me, except they do not have food to eat.”

Yoori lives in South Korea and doesn’t know what North Korea is like, but her father (Appa) does. Appa grew up in North Korea, where he did not have enough food to eat. Starving, he fled to South Korea in search of a better life. Yoori doesn’t know how she can help as she’s only a little “grain of rice” herself, but Appa tells her that they can secretly help the starving people by sending special balloons that carry rice over the border.

Villagers glare and grumble, and children protest feeding the enemy, but Yoori doesn’t back down. She has to help. People right over the border don’t have food. No rice, and no green fields.

With renewed spirit, volunteers gather in groups, fill the balloons with air, and tie the Styrofoam containers filled with rice to the tails of the balloons. With a little push, the balloons soar up and over the border, carrying rice in the darkness of the night over to North Korea.


Ages: 4-6
Illustrated by: Keum Jin Song
ISBN: 9781499806823
Price: $17.99
Published by: Little Bee Books

More

  • Being Jack
  • The Cherry Pie Princess
  • Polly and Buster The Wayward Witch and the Feelings Monster
  • The Extraordinary Life of Malala Yousafzai
  • The Extraordinary Life of Rosa Parks
  • Making Their Voices Heard—The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe
  • Dreamers
  • Ellen DeGeneres (People of Pride Series)
  • Give Us the Vote!: Over Two Hundred Years of Fighting for the Ballot
  • I Voted: Making a Choice Makes a Difference
  • A New Green Day
  • Hey, Water!
  • Harvey Milk (People of Pride Series)
  • A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation
  • Parrots, Pugs, and Pixie Dust: A Book About Fashion Designer Judith Leiber
  • Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre
  • The Compton Cowboys: Young Readers’ Edition
  • The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver
  • Rice from Heaven: The Secret Mission to Feed North Koreans
  • IT BEGAN WITH A PAGE: HOW GYO FUJIKAWA DREW THE WAY
Back to Top