14-year-old Dae battles hunger, border guards, and homelessness when he's separated from his parents and forced to flee North Korea alone. The Survival Series that celebrates the awesome history of us. Asian/Pacific American Award for Children's Literature winner Ellie Crowe and bestselling children's author Scott Peters tell this gripping story about one young refugee's escape from the oppression of North Korea. Short attention spans | Chapter Book | Ages 8-12 | B&W; Illustrations 14-year-old Dae has been taught that North Korea is the best place in the world. Yet the painfully skinny boy can't help wondering why all his family has to eat is watery porridge made from grass. At school, Dae and his friends bow before the giant portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, their clothes flapping around their bony limbs. Dae begins to question why the Great Leaders look so well fed. When Dae's beloved father is hauled away to a hard-labor camp, the young teen must fend for himself. Alone, things turn from bad to worse and Dae dreams of rebellion-of fleeing across the scary border into China to look for work. For how else can he help feed his family and