In the Shadow of the Sun

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, Brunswick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: March 13, 2018

Review

O'Brien transitions expertly from picture book author to novelist in this well-researched, tightly-written novel that will appeal to readers who enjoy survival stories, realistic fiction, and/or suspenseful plots from upper elementary through high school. Mia and her older brother, Simon, have accompanied their father, a food-aid worker, to North Korea for a five-day tour. Mia is Korean-born, but was adopted by the Andrews family when she was a baby. When Mia's father is arrested, Simon and Mia, now in possession of illegal photos of "work" camps run by the North Korean government on a contraband phone flee on foot through the countryside in hopes of making it to the Chinese border, their only hope for rescue from what was already a dangerous country for westerners and has now become hostile. The brother and sister use all of their survival skills and Mia's limited knowledge of Korean language (acquired in Korean school, which she attends on weekends in her home state of Connecticut) to stay one step ahead of the government officials/soldiers who are undoubtedly pursuing them. The siblings have to work together, tough because they had become estranged in the past few months, and end up learning a lot about one another. Touching on issues of identity, family, politics, international relations, and the things that unite us, this book illuminates a part of the world about which few American readers might have knowledge and it does it really well. Highly recommend.

Overall Book Score: excellent