Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Every country has its folktales. Folktales are, essentially, stories told to reinforce cultural values and emphasize tradition among a group of people. Sometimes, a group of people is united by sharing a country, a certain region, or by another common characteristic. What are some folktales in American culture? How about other cultures? What are the values embedded within those stories?

Teaching Suggestion: The stories of Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan are two examples of classic American folklore, both of which promote the values of a pioneering spirit, rugged individualism, and enterprising determination. Students may offer up stories from other non-American cultures. Ask students who volunteer stories to provide a general summary of the story, and as a group, discuss what values/traditions are upheld within the story. This discussion will provide useful context for the larger discussion around Folk Stories and Propaganda Versus Traumatic Reality in the book.

• American Folklore is a collection of folktales from various cultures, including stories from American, Canadian, Mexican, and many other cultures/regions. 
• Vox’s “All of America’s Folk Heroes, in One Map” is a visual and geographical representation of American folklore.

2. A common trope in coming-of-age stories is when the protagonist discovers that something they held dear in their childhood isn’t what it seems. Consider coming-of-age stories you’ve read or watched lately. In what way did the protagonist’s worldview shift? What brought about that shift in perspective?

Teaching Suggestion: If students have trouble coming up with examples of coming-of-age stories, they can draw from LitHub’s “The 50 Greatest Coming-of-Age Novels.” This discussion will help prepare students to understand the book’s theme of Hope and Disillusionment in Institutions, so you may wish to draw attention to institutions (religion, family, government, or belief systems) in the examples provided by students.

• In “The 4 Coming-of-Age Memoirs You Need to Read,” PBS discusses the markers of the most iconic coming-of-age novels.
• BBC Culture calls F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby “The World’s Most Misunderstood Novel.” As a coming-of-age story, The Great Gatsby deals heavily with themes of Hope and Disillusionment. 

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the book.

Do you have a “chosen family” in addition to your biological family? How do they help you and/or understand you in ways that your biological family might not be able to?

Teaching Suggestion: To prepare students for discussing “chosen family,” especially as it relates to Brotherhood and the Power of Chosen Family, it may be helpful to define the term in a group reading of “Who Is in Your Chosen Family?,” a New York Times opinion piece published in May 2022.

• In “A Matter of Life or Death: LGBTQ + Refugees,” queer activist Tyler Oakley expands the definition of “chosen family” by drawing out its importance in both LGBTQ+ and refugee communities.
• Psychology Today discusses the psychological underpinnings of “chosen family” in “Finding Connection Through ‘Chosen Family.’”

Differentiation Suggestion: As a coda or alternative to this prompt, advanced learners can research “the chōsen-seki” and discuss their findings in small groups. As described in “The Chōsen-Seki: Torn Between Two Nations” and “Chōsen-Seki as Stateless Residents: Is Their Social Integration Possible?,”  the term “chosen-seki” refers to the legal status of ethnic Koreans who have migrated to Japan. They are considered a “stateless” group of people—in a sense, they are Koreans with a “chosen family” of Japanese citizens.