Thousand Lucks
A War Survival Story of a Thirteen-Year-Old Girl
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
“No rice to feed you!” Principal Jo at Ewha Girl’s Boarding School in Seoul told two seniors. He continued, “The communist soldiers took all the rice!” Hyun Jung begged the sneiors to take her along. They reluctantly took her along. Did they know that Hyung Jung would eventually save their lives, when the South side wanted to kill them all?
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Life changes drastically for thirteen-year-old Yu Hyun Jung when the North Korean Communists invade Seoul, where she attends school and lives on campus. When she rushes home to her family, she is told by a Communist soldier at gunpoint, “Nobody is here!” Sadly, Hyun Jung is now an instant orphan.
The Communist soldiers continue to steal everything from her when they take all the school’s food. The school principal asks a twelfth grader to take a few girls and go on the run. When Hyun Jung wants to go, she is initially refused, considered too young. The elder girls claim she will only slow them down, but Hyun Jung remembers what her mother used to tell her and others: “My daughter was born with Thousand Lucks.” Remembering this gives Hyun Jung courage, and she convinces the other girls that she is worth bringing along.
In Thousand Lucks, a young, mourning teen survives walking through battlefields, a burning city, age discrimination, and a man’s attempt to take advantage of her. Through Hyun Jung’s story of survival, children can learn how to cope with crisis, and grown-ups can learn how positive remarks when dealing with children can have a long-lasting impact. In the case of Yu Hyun Jung, her mother telling people that her daughter was born with “Thousand Lucks” gives her the strength to believe in herself and endure a wartime crisis.
About the Author
Diana Yu’s first work of nonfiction, Winds of Change: Korean Women in America, received a National Press Club award in two categories: Importance of Subject and High Quality of Writing. Diana’s first novel, Sylvia’s Garden, received a Five Star award by Online Book Reviewers.
Diana was a post-doctoral Fellow in East Asian Studies at Harvard. She earned a doctorate in Higher Education Administration and International Education from The George Washington University. After receiving an MA and BA from Arizona State University, Diana taught in public schools in Arizona and in North Carolina.
In Korea, she studied at the Ewha Women’s University after graduating from Ewha Girl’s Middle and High School.