Anticipation Guide: "So Far From the Bamboo Grove."

Yoko Kawashima

This guide is by: Sarah Gistenson, Rachael Pitts, Rachel Von Lienen

"When will peace come so that we can turn on the lights? I heard the last train
pass. It was bedtime. I was so tired I threw myself down ontop of the futon with
my clothes on hoping there would be no air raid to wake me." (20)

Go to this link and read the first two paragraphs about the author and Japan's history:

http://www.uvm.edu/~litblock/webquest/236Spring2003/King/

After reading this, how do you feel about what you have read?

"Through the opening I saw the body of an engeneer, burnt black. 'Don't look,' Ko said. Mother kept on walking.We had been the only healthy ones to get on the train at Nanam, and now we were the only healthy ones to get off. I looked at the long road we were about to take, rails stretching ahead, shining mysteriously in the light of three quarter moon." (42)

This book, like many books, recounts a portion of one's person's journey
through life, their attempt to get from one place to another. This story is
about one woman and her families journey from Korea to Japan, from a place of war to a place of saftey and peace.

Looking at the map below, follow with your eyes the journey of Yoko from Northern Korea to Japan, through the city of Seoul.







As you read this book, try to put yourself in the shoes of Yoko or Ko, and imagine what it would have been like to go through what they experienced. Like Yoko, you too are on a journey of your own. How do the experiences that Yoko speaks about in the short passage above and what you read about on the link, compare to your own life?

Enjoy Reading!