i have a lot of complicated feelings on this book (the artwork is genuinely gorgeous, though).
i think it should be made more obvious before reading the whole book that this is definitely a Christian take on this kind of story. the kids in this book meet a pastor who helps them get out of North Korea, and he begins teaching them about Christianity. makes sense, pretty in character, there are definitely missionaries that do this kind of work. but the way the kids just immediately take to Christianity and begin applying the values doesn’t make sense to me? they’ve lived in a very restrictive society with no religion their whole lives, why do they immediately fully believe this pastor on it and act like the type of kids i was around as a kid who had been at church their whole lives? doesn’t make sense.
also the authors note rang a bit of an alarm bell for me mentally with it specifically only mentioning Christianity being persecuted in NK, not any other religions.
i think this story is amazing in itself, but the heavily Christian undertones that often jut into the story gave me some pretty odd vibes.