Under the Broken Sky

Gr 5-7--A moving story of one Japanese family's survival in occupied Manchuria during World War II. The small farm where 12-year-old Natsu lives with her father and her sister, Asa, is all she has ever known. But when her father is forced to join the Japanese army, everything begins to change. He makes Natsu promise three things: keep his backpack, stay together, and if anything happens, run! Before long, the Soviet army forces the women and children to flee the settlement. Walking for weeks, they finally arrive at the Chinese city of Harbin. They are crammed together in an old school building, where hunger, fear, and death prevail. When Natsu falls ill, she decides to save Asa by selling her to a Russian family. Incredibly, she regains her health and learns of a boat returning refugees to Japan. Yet Natsu holds fast to her promise: she will not leave without her sister. Nagai writes in verse with both a detached hesitancy, as if looking at the story from a distance, and a deep understanding of the sisters' pain through rich imagery that poetry so often allows. It is a hard history to swallow, but it is made palatable through the characters' tenacity and belief in an outcome greater than their own. VERDICT Echoing the hardships and redemption of many novels about World War II, this well-timed story about a lesser-known group of refugees adds an important chapter to the narrative of human oppression and survival.--Rebecca Redinger, Lincoln Park Branch, Chicago Public Library

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

A NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
An ILA Notable Book for a Global Society
A Junior Library Guild Selection
An NCTE Notable Verse Novel
A Maine Student Book Award Nominee

Under the Broken Sky is a story of hope and resilience during one of history's tragic forced migrations. Mariko's beautiful free verse reveals the emotional impact on a child and her family.— Margarita Engle, Newbery Honor-winning author of The Surrender Tree

Published for middle-grade readers but necessary for all of humankind, Under the Broken Sky is a breathtaking work of literature.—Booklist, starred review

Nagai writes in verse with both a detached hesitancy, as if looking at the story from a distance, and a deep understanding of the sisters' pain through rich imagery that poetry so often allows. Echoing the hardships and redemption of many novels about World War II, this well-timed story about a lesser-known group of refugees adds an important chapter to the narrative of human oppression and survival.—School Library Journal

[The story] is told with frank, unsentimental honesty and pain that lives in the space between words as much as in the words themselves. An afterword includes historical context on Manchuria in World War II and a reminder from the author that refugee families to this day leave their homes because they have no choice; this story offers readers a moving way to put themselves in such families' shoes.—The Bulletin