So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

This author visited our school today.  She spoke with the children about perseverance and courage. 

A core novel in our 6th grade, all students have read the book.  INSPIRATIONAL!
A fictionalized autobiography in which eleven-year-old Yoko escapes from Korea to Japan with her mother and sister at the end of World War II. Though Japanese, eleven-year-old Yoko has lived with her family in northern Korea near the border with China all her life. But when the Second World War comes to an end, Japanese on the Korean peninsula are suddenly in terrible danger; the Korean people want control of their homeland and they want to punish the Japanese, who have occupied their nation for many years. Yoko, her mother and sister are forced to flee from their beautiful house with its peaceful bamboo grove. Their journey is terrifying -- and remarkable. 
It's a true story of courage and survival