by Ellen Oh
A great big thank-you to my very dearest friend, Hong Soo Yeon, who is chairman of the board of directors at Pung Saeng Academy and who acted as my personal tour guide and research adviser during our trip. I can’t thank Soo Yeon enough for all that she did for me. She and her husband, Lee Kyou Hong, took me everywhere and interpreted all the hard stuff for me. (My Korean is good enough to get around with, not good enough to understand complex discussions.) They introduced me to the incredibly knowledgeable Ko Hanbin, a curator at the War Memorial Museum who answered so many of my research questions. And I must thank the wonderful tour guide Park Chungkwon, who took me on a very special and thorough English tour through the entire museum and gave me so much information that I would never have discovered on my own. I learned so much!
Thank you also to the awesome group of first year students at Pung Saeng Academy, who were so smart and so insightful. And thank you to Director Kim Joong Chan, who introduced me to the best jajangmyeon in Seoul over a lively and informative conversation about Korean society and history.
A very special and important thank-you to Professor Hong Sah-Myung of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, who answered all of my endless questions, both in person and over email for months! I honestly could not have written this book without his help and guidance. It was Professor Hong’s childhood experiences during the war that was the basis of Doha’s story. I am so grateful to Professor Hong for helping me bring balance to this book by including his stories. And because he is Soo Yeon’s uncle, I owe my dear friend Soo so much! Thank you, Soo, for everything you did for me! I could not have written this book without you! I just wish we were not so far apart! Miss you, dear friend!
To Linda Sue Park, you saved me!! When I got lost in the deep abyss of endless research, you introduced me to the brilliant author of Ghost Flames, Charles J. Hanley, who put into my hands the one essential piece of historical evidence I needed to finalize this book. Dear Charlie, when I was absolutely stuck and in despair of finding the facts I was seeking, your email saved me. I’m so grateful to you and Linda Sue. Otherwise, I’d still be stuck in research hell forever and this book would have never been finished and I would have scratched my head bald. It would not be a pretty sight.
To my brilliant editing team, of Alyson Day and Eva Lynch-Comer: Thank you both for believing in me and Junie!
Dear Eva, your comments always challenged me to think really hard about how to tell a better, richer, deeper story.
Dear Aly, thank you for helping me write this book. To be honest, there were many moments when I didn’t know if I could write it. I doubted myself the whole way. But you never doubted me and gave me so much support and guidance. This was the hardest book to write and I would not have been able to survive the writing and revision process if it wasn’t for your unwavering support. Thank you so much for helping me tell my mother’s story.
To my copy editors, Kathryn Silsand, Maya Myers, and Caitlin Lonning, you are so good at making me look good!!
To my Harper art team, how is it possible for each gorgeous cover to keep blowing me away? I always say this, but Joel Tippie is a genius! I’m always so amazed that my vague ideas of what a cover might look like are then translated into a cover that is so very perfect. Thank you to the incredible illustrator Alex Cho for bringing my vision alive with his beautiful art. I could never have imagined it and yet it was absolutely perfect in every way.
I would also like to thank the rest of my Harper team—Emily Zhu, Vaishali Nayak, Jacquelynn Burke, Aubrey Churchward, and Vanessa Nuttry. Thank you for bringing Finding Junie Kim to life!
Special thanks to my wonderful agent, Marietta Zacker of Gallt & Zacker agency, who heard me pitch this idea and said an enthusiastic yes before I knew how I was going to even tell this story. You really get me and I’m so, so, so grateful!!
I owe a lot of meals to my wonderful friends who have read for me, brainstormed with me, supported me, and been there for me in so many ways—Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich, Lamar Giles, Dhonielle Clayton, Hena Khan, Minh Le, Christina Soontornvat, Caroline Richmond, Sarah Park Dahlen, Mike Jung, and Terry Hong. These people are the very best people and I adore them.
To my besties Anna Hong and Jen Choi Um—Love you ladies!! I’m still waiting for our world-tour trip!
To my sister, Janet, who is such an enthusiastic supporter of my writing. Thank you for always being a light in my life.
I need to have another big shout-out for my oldest child, Summer. Not only did she go to Korea with me, but she was my research assistant and was deeply involved in helping me write and revise this book. Summer, thank you for all of your help and for all the enthusiastic love! You were the first person to cry reading Junie’s story and that will always mean so much to me. Most specifically, thank you for letting me write about your special relationship with Grandpa. I know we both miss him so much. But now he will live in the pages of this book. His memory will always be there for us.
To Skye and Graysin, my two beautiful younger children, thank you for allowing me to include your experiences in this book, as difficult as they were. Thank you for helping me tell your stories through Junie.
To my husband, Sonny, thank you for buying a lot of takeout food and feeding the family whenever I’ve been on deadline. Okay, even when I’m not on deadline. Thank you for understanding how much I hate to cook. Thank you for always taking care of me and being my one and only.
And lastly to the memory of my father. Thank you for being my dad. I really miss you.
About the Author
Photo by Sun Oh
ELLEN OH is the cofounder of We Need Diverse Books and author of the Spirit Hunters series and The Dragon Egg Princess for middle grade and the Prophecy trilogy (Prophecy, Warrior, and King) for young adults. Ellen is a former adjunct college instructor and lawyer with an insatiable curiosity for ancient Asian history. She also loves martial arts films, K-pop, K-dramas, and cooking shows, and she is a rabid fan of the Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra series. Originally from New York City, Ellen lives in Potomac, Maryland, with her husband and three children and has yet to satisfy her quest for a decent bagel. You can visit her online at www.ellenoh.com.
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Books by Ellen Oh
The Dragon Egg Princess
Spirit Hunters
Spirit Hunters: The Island of Monsters
Prophecy
Warrior
King
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings
Copyright
FINDING JUNIE KIM. Text copyright © 2021 by Ellen Oh. Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Alex Cho. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover art © 2021 by Alex Cho
Cover design by Joel Tippie
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020950993
Digital Edition MAY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-298800-3
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-298798-3
2122232425PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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