Yoko, is an eleven-year old Japanese girl living in with her family in Korea. However, as far as she is concerned, her home is Korea. She is Korean. But when the World War II ends, the Korean people want control of the country again. Yoko, her sister and mother must leave the country they called home. Many adventures both terrible and amazing lead this family to the country of nationality, where they are the strangers. Based on Watkins own story, So Far From the Bamboo Grove is a beautiful, wonderful and fantastic look at another side of war. The human side. The sequel, My Brother, My Sister and I is as amazing and powerful as the first.
— JeanetteIn the final days of World War II, Koreans were determined to take back control of their country from the Japanese and end the suffering caused by the Japanese occupation. As an eleven-year-old girl living with her Japanese family in northern Korea, Yoko is suddenly fleeing for her life with her mother and older sister, Ko, trying to escape to Japan, a country Yoko hardly knows.
Their journey is terrifying—and remarkable. It's a true story of courage and survival that highlights the plight of individual people in wartime. In the midst of suffering, acts of kindness, as exemplified by a family of Koreans who risk their own lives to help Yoko's brother, are inspiring reminders of the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
Yoko Kawashima Watkins received The Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts, which cited her as an "inspiration to young people throughout America and the world."