I loved this book! It gives a great perspective on our relationships with grandparents and how history, unfortunately, repeats itself.

Junie Kim feels bogged down by the casual racism she finds in her day-to-day life. She feels anxious and depressed about her friends' decisions to confront the racism they find in their school, a decision she feels will lead to no progress and do anything but make their friend group feel more burned out. When she shares these feelings with her grandparents, she is shocked by the vehemence with which her grandfather shuts down this way of thinking. He shares the anti-Asian sentiment he and his grandmother felt as newly arrived immigrants to the United States and also shares the trauma and division that he experienced growing up during the Korean War.

Junie is shocked by her grandfather's wartime experience and becomes determined not to be a bystander in her own story. She works with her friends to form an antiracism coalition and works to record her grandfather and grandmother's stories of growing up during a war to save their family history forever. Junie draws on the strength of her ancestors and the long lineage of being brave and selfless that they have left for her to find her own courage to stand up for what's right.

A truly moving story that shares author Ellen Oh's deeply personal family history, "Finding Junie Kim" is a must-read for fans of Thanhha Lai and Cynthia Kadohata. It will be a new classic for generations to come and spark important conversations among middle grade readers. Special thanks to NetGalley and to HarperCollins for providing an Advanced Reader's Copy of "Finding Junie Kim" in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

What a beautiful story. The book touches on some heavy themes like war, trauma, immigration, and mental health, and I like how it explores Junie's relationship with her grandparents. I hadn't really learned about the Korean War, especially from this perspective. I would totally recommend this to middle and high school students.

This is such a powerful, important, emotionally intelligent book that beautifully weaves together the trauma of war, hate crime, bullying, depression, friendship tiffs, and lack of cell phone without diminishing or minimizing any of them--in a tender way that I think most older elementary and middle schoolers will find relatable and much-needed.

Finding Junie Kim has so much wisdom to share, and is a beautiful starting point for important conversations about compassion toward yourself and others.

This book focuses not only on the immigration experience and history of the Korean War, but it also explores mental health, bullying, peer pressure, racism, hate crimes and more. This book covers so many difficult topics that need to be and should be addressed. Such a powerful read.

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I tried finishing this book and could not get into it. I did not write a Goodreads review because I try not to put out negative reviews for books that are still trying to gain traction.

This is a great tale of a courageous young girl and her bravery as she presses toward a better future. I loved seeing this story come alive on the page. Wonderful as an own voices middle grade read.

This book was heavier and harder for me to read than I thought it would be. I think it's a combination of being a school teacher, seeing what's happening in the news, and having two multi-racial children are South Korean. It hit close to home on multiple levels. That being said, it is an important book and tells a story that is needed. I will definitely purchase it for my middle school library.

Finding Junie Kim is an absolutely beautifully written book. While Ellen Oh tackles very heavy topics such as grief, racism, and mental health, she does so respectfully, authentically, and in a way that doesn't feel sensational or intrusive. This is among my favorite books of the past couple of years!

The stories shared by Junie's grandparents are the real gems in this book. Junie seems rather two-dimensional, a plot device to share their stories. Luckily, the grandparents' recollections of life during the Korean War take up most of the book and are incredibly compelling.

This book was thought-provoking and intense with loads of issues that can be discussed in-depth with others or in a book club. Because overarching themes in the book were undoubtedly race and trauma, this book may be better suited for older elementary or middle school readers especially with suicidal ideation and, albeit brief, depictions of war.

I really wanted to like this book more, but the writing was stiff and quite hard to get through. Overall, it is still an important book for readers to see the effect of the 2016 election.

I find that lately my reviews are focused on what I liked and then what I didn't like because at the end of the day I haven't been thrilled with a book totally... and so it is with this one. While there are things I really appreciated about it, overall it feel short for me.



What I Liked: The Korean War tie in. So much of that time period is lost... schools rarely make it that far in US History or World History and even then it is told from a US perspective. The focus on bullying and how Junie ultimately dealt with it.

What I Didn't Like: The writing style, especially between Junie and her grandparents as they were telling their stories seemed unnatural. Junie's contemplation of suicide seemed very sudden and the build up to it didn't seem strong enough. Too much reliance on 2016 as a point in history where certain issues emerged. If this book is to last in middle grade libraries that reference will soon be lost to the readers. Instead of taking a continual dig at the election and results that year a more general approach seems better. Racism was an issue before and continues to be an issue - yes, there was a spike as some took the election as license to spew their hate, but there is much work still to be done. I could go on with some of my views on this but I digress.

I wish the book had been a straight up historical fiction about the Korean War aspect or the interaction between Junie and her grandparents and less about the friendship and bullying sideplots.

This review is based on the finished book that I borrowed from the library.

This was a very moving story. I was more engaged in the historical chapters about Junie's grandparents, but Junie's story was very important, as well. I agree with some reviews that sometimes the dialogue felt stilted. I also felt that Oh was a little heavy handed with telling instead of showing (like Junies' consideration of the BLM movement). I probably won't buy this for my elementary library because some of the material (like the graphic descriptions of injuries experienced by Junie's grandparent's neighbors during the war, and Junie's contemplation of suicide) are a little heavy for elementary. I do think this could be a good choice for a mature fifth grader, and I wouldn't hesitate to put it in a middle school library.

This book was intense, thought-provoking, timely, and informative. I loved that it was told in two settings, one modern day, and the other during the Korean War, and that it highlighted the relationship between Junie and her grandfather. In thinking of how I would categorize this book in my classroom, there are so many tags I could give this book such as: racism, bullying, Korean War, suicidal ideation, depression, grandparent relationships, and middle school. I especially liked that through Junie’s story, it gave actionable ideas to students on how to deal with racism, whether as someone that experiences it or that witnesses it and is unsure how to help. It also taught me a lot about the Korean War, engaging me with an intense story based on the life of the author’s own family. There were parts of the book that made me feel ill in its graphic telling of events, so I had to take a break and read another book.
Junie’s school deals with racist graffiti and other racist acts that affect her and her friends. As they struggle to cope, Junie gets involved in interviewing her grandfather for a school project. This results in her documenting the story of her grandparents growing up during the Korean War when they were her age. Watching her “the past is the past” grandmother open up warmed my heart. It was very emotional as a reader learning about the atrocities of the war as recounted by her grandfather. It helps Junie and her friends find ways to combat the racism going on at school. Have tissues on hand when you sit down with this book

A good read for upper elementary or middle school, dealing with contemporary race issues and bringing to life stories of courage survival from the Korean War. I liked that this book underscores how important it is for younger generations to connect with the stories of their elders. Those stories are not always forthcoming, as they can involve a great deal of trauma. Parents and grandparents are often reluctant to share such heavy stories with younger generations, and this book effectively shows why it's important for these stories to be passed down. I appreciated how the main character came to understand that it's important to speak up and not be a bystander, inspired by her grandparents' stories.

Some of the content may be a bit much for a very sensitive reader (suicidal ideation, and brief but intense descriptions of war violence). But for a reader who can handle that content, this is a powerful read.

Finding Junie Kim tells the stories of three individuals impacted by the Korean War. Junie is in middle school during the Trump administration and her Korean ethnicity makes her a target for nationalist bullying at school. The overwhelming nature of this prejudice leads to depression and a strain on her friendships. The other two characters in the book are Junie's grandparents who were both in Korea during the war. They each share their experiences with Junie in separate sections of the book.

The structure of the book was well thought out, giving each story attention and full focus. The writing is sometimes a bit stiff and unnatural, but the story is very well developed and extremely important.

Junie Kim faces racist comments from a school bully at her middle school. Along with that, her school is vandalized with hateful, racist graffiti. When her friends want to make a stand, Junie doesn't want to as she doesn't think it will matter. Then she is given a class assignment to interview someone from the Silent Generation. What her grandparents reveal about their childhood during the Korean War will give her strength and courage to face her own problems.

What worked: I totally loved this story! Powerful writing that pulls you right into a story where a middle schooler learns about her own beloved grandparent's childhood during the Korean War. Junie's story is one that is needed right now, especially during the recent attacks against those in the Asian community. Junie witnesses firsthand this hatred by the graffiti on her middle school's walls and also by the local bully who targets her everyday at the bus stop.

What's so strong about this story isn't just her grandparent's stories of racism they faced when they first moved to the United States from Korea, but their harrowing stories of survival during the Korean War. Junie gains strength through their stories and is able to realize how important it is to speak out in the face of racism, even when it's scary. I especially loved how her grandfather shared with her that silence can be a weapon.

'Silence in the face of racism gives racism the power to continue to hurt people of color. Only by speaking up can we take away that power.'

Junie and her friends do just that with their school presentation on racism and standing up against it.

Powerful coming-of-age story where a young girl draws strength from her Korean grandparent's stories during the Korean War and the racism they faced when they first came to the United States. But this story is much more than that. It shows how important it is to not be silent in the face of racism. Totally recommend. Highly suggest this be included in middle school and high school libraries. Also would be a great book club selection.

This is an incredible book about finding yourself via loved ones stories of the past. I love the relationship that Junie has with her grandparents,

Outstanding! This book addresses serious topics (racism, depression, war, and grief) in a manner that is perfect for middle grade readers. This is a great choice for student book clubs due to the conversations that will result (and the history that will be learned). Teachers and librarians, order this now!