What do you know about the Korean War? How about what life was like on the Korean Peninsula before the Korean War?

If you want to get a glimpse into a little of the history, these books will give two very different perspectives.

A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park, was part of our Sonlight Ancient Civilization homeschool curriculum, a historical fiction work that takes place in the 1100’s on the west coast of Korea.

I read a pile of books to my kids each year, most of which don’t make it onto my blog. This one stood out. All of us enjoyed it.

I love books that have cultural or artistic themes running through them. This book is part artistic and cultural history, part journey tale, and generally, a wonderful story with strong characters, including healthy adult roles.

I have griped here before about how many books, especially kids’ books, have unsympathetic adult characters who we love to hate while we root for the child protagonist. This story doesn’t roast the adults at the expense of the kid protagonist. Tree-ear, the lead, is learning to see the adults in his life as complex human beings, worthy of his own concern.

On Desperate Ground, by Hampton Sides, is a war history nonfiction work that covers the battle at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. You may remember the Korean War as being the first war the U.S. didn’t “win,” and this story provides some context.

Why did we not win? How did we not win? Why did we fight at all? This detailed work introduces us to the individuals who made the decisions, and those who suffered for those decisions, during the Korean War.

On Desperate Ground is tirelessly researched, well-paced, and well written, introducing many different characters and somehow helping the reader keep them straight.

The book tells a little of the story from many sides: the North Korean and Chinese soldiers, the North and South Korean refugees, the South Korean soldiers, the U.N. forces, the different branches of the U.S. military, and primarily, U.S.M.C. fighters in the middle of it all.

There were a number of really stunning stories in the greater arc of the battle, but one of the most incredible is that of Lee Bae-suk, a young man from North Korea who had escaped south before the war.

His story was truly incredible, but it left me wondering about the countless other refugees’ experiences and how it affected their families and their lives. I’ll be keeping an eye for another book that tells more about the Korean War from the perspective of the civilians.

What struck me the most about On Desperate Ground was the incredible bravery that was demonstrated by those on the ground on both sides of the conflict. They were dealing with an impossible situation, and they did what they could to serve their countries.

It was serendipitous that I happened to be reading these two books at the same time, and I’m so glad I did. It was fascinating to read wildly different stories that took place in the same geographical area in different eras.

Want more options?

Try The Invitation-Only Zone: The True Story of North Korea’s Abduction Project, by Robert S. Boynton, a nonfiction work, or Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee, a historical fiction novel that follows the lives of four generations of Korean immigrants in Japan. (Content note: Pachinko is a fantastic story, but there is some brief graphic sexual content which felt extra).

Reading stories like these opens my mind to other ways of living, but also fleshes out some understanding about the “why” behind current events, like subtle or not-so-subtle tensions between countries and their citizens.