During these years while her mother, or umma, is away in the U.S. Army, young Sumi lives with her grandmother or harmuny. Sumi feels particularly lonesome for Umma one day, so Harmuny tells the girl what happened when Umma was a baby in Seoul, Korea, in 1951. Fleeing from Seoul and increasing dangers, Harmuny and Sumi's grandfather, or harabujy, took their children and the belongings they could carry and started walking toward far away Pusan. Finally Harabujy decided that the best chance his wife and their children might have for survival would be to ride with hundreds of other desperate refugees on top of the last train going South. The family made it safely, but they never saw Harabujy again. The story is based on actual experiences in the lives of Balgassi's mother and grandmother. Both she and Soentpiet were born in Seoul. Soentpiet's marvelous watercolors grace each page, expanding the contemporary and historical scenes and specifying cultural details. This compelling fictional account is divided into eight short sections. (Ages 8-12)

While her mother is in the army, Sumi is living with her grandmother, on East Blossom Hill. Perched on her favorite rock, Sumi watches trains wind through the valley below, hears the lonely sound of their whistles piercing the air, and longs for the day her mother will return. The train whistle reminds Sumi's grandmother of a time when a train played an important role in her life too: long ago in Korea, when she and her family escaped Seoul at the last moment before the war came. In poetic language and exquisite paintings, PEACEBOUND TRAINS evokes the landscape and people of Korea and a special grandmother-granddaughter relationship. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.