Echoes of the White Giraffe

Sookan, the heroine who fled war-torn Seoul with her mother and younger brother in Choi's Year of Impossible Goodbyes , returns in this haunting sequel to tell of life as a refugee in South Korea. Now 15, Sookan tries to establish a sense of normalcy during turbulent times as she attends a makeshift school, worries about her missing father and older brothers, and contends with living in a mountaintop shack on the outskirts of Pusan. But perhaps most confusing of all, Sookan experiences her first romance. She takes comfort in her blossoming yet forbidden friendship with the handsome Junho, sharing with him her hopes and dreams of a happy, peaceful future. The end of the war brings still more upheaval when Sookan and the other refugees make their way back to the North and pick up the rubble of their former lives. Sookan's first-person narrative sustains a level of emotional intensity befitting the often dire events that swirl around her. Choi's graceful writing sews the disparate catastrophes into a satisfying, almost cathartic whole. She has once again succeeded in putting a very human face on a tragic episode of world history. This inspirational work possesses a confidence and quiet triumph with universal reverberations. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)