So+Far+From+The+Bamboo+Grove

The Kawashimas are a Japanese family that live in Korea in the 1940s. Their father is a Korean official and a very important person. The Korean Communist Army are going after the Kawashimas because they are Japanese and their father is an important person. They have three children: Hideyo, Ko, and Yoko. Hideyo goes off and works for an ammunition factory. Right after he leaves the family has to run. They leave without their important dad or their brother. The mom and the girls get on a train and get to another town. From their they get to the coast of Korea and get on a boat to get to Japan. Hideyo gets home from the ammunition factory and realizes that his family has ran. He starts to run because he cannot get on a train. He almost freezes but gets saved by a very nice Korean family. From there he leaves, and gets to Japan to find his two sisters.-Tanner

The Japanese culture is way different. It is based on respect. Whenever you are going to leave someone you bow politely. They call each other Honorable Sister, Honorable Brother, or Honorable Father. The whole family cares deeply about each other. They love one another and want to be with each other always. When someone dies they take the body and burn it and the family gets the ashes. The family then makes a urn, which they put special memories on it.-Tanner

The Japanese culture is also different in school. They have a specific class period in school where they clean up the school. One weird thing about Korean culture is how they carry their bags around their waists.- Joey

This was a good book, but not my favorite. Their was a lot of action but also some parts were it was very descriptive and boring. I would recommend this to most people but not all. I always wanted to keep reading so that I could find out what happens to their family. -Tanner

I kind of liked this book. It was good until the end. The plot was good until everything happened in the last chapter. I would give it a seven out of ten.- Joey