This beautiful watercolor book tells a child’s first-person story of a moving, simple story about a complex and moving issue. Nowadays, it seems like helping and housing refugees and other immigrants has become a major controversy in every nation. But ours are not the first lands that have been the only places these travelers could go, as many others have faced the same struggles before us — including many of our forebears.

The gentle text and lovely watercolor illustrations tell of the strains and lasting joy of helping refugees during the Korean War who have fled one of the southernmost points on the Korean peninsula. The simple yet nuanced phrasing helps carry the complex and overlapping feelings of dealing with refugees. These mixed feelings are further supported by the muted palette of watercolors that, similarly, mix with one another on each beautifully painted page.