{"product_id":"banned-book-club-9781945820427","title":"Banned Book Club","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Junior Library Guild Selection\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Highly recommended for readers passionate about activism.\" -- \u003ci\u003eSCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, \u003c\/i\u003e Starred Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Sure to inspire today's youthful generation of tenacious changemakers.\" -- \u003ci\u003eBOOKLIST, \u003c\/i\u003e Starred Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"The messages of hope are universal.\" -- \u003ci\u003ePUBLISHERS WEEKLY, \u003c\/i\u003e Starred Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A timely read about friendship amid chaos.\" -- \u003ci\u003eNPR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"It's hard to imagine a world where \u003ci\u003eBanned Book Club\u003c\/i\u003e could be more relevant than it is right now.\" -- \u003ci\u003eA.V. CLUB\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhen Kim Hyun Sook started college in 1983 she was ready for her world to open up. After acing her exams and sort-of convincing her traditional mother that it was a good idea for a woman to go to college, she looked forward to soaking up the ideas of Western Literature far from the drudgery she was promised at her family's restaurant. But literature class would prove to be just the start of a massive turning point, still focused on reading but with life-or-death stakes she never could have imagined.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis was during South Korea's Fifth Republic, a military regime that entrenched its power through censorship, torture, and the murder of protestors. In this charged political climate, with Molotov cocktails flying and fellow students disappearing for hours and returning with bruises, Hyun Sook sought refuge in the comfort of books. When the handsome young editor of the school newspaper invited her to his reading group, she expected to pop into the cafeteria to talk about \u003ci\u003eMoby Dick, Hamlet, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Scarlet Letter.\u003c\/i\u003e Instead she found herself hiding in a basement as the youngest member of an underground banned book club. And as Hyun Sook soon discovered, in a totalitarian regime, the delights of discovering great works of illicit literature are quickly overshadowed by fear and violence as the walls close in.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn BANNED BOOK CLUB, Hyun Sook shares a dramatic true story of political division, fear-mongering, anti-intellectualism, the death of democratic institutions, and the relentless rebellion of reading.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKim Hyun Sook\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Changwon, South Korea. She became a member of a banned book club in the 1980s while studying English Language and Literature. This is her first book. She has co-written comics for websites including \u003ci\u003eThe Nib\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eOh Joy Sex Toy, \u003c\/i\u003e and she translated Lady Rainicorn's dialogue for \u003ci\u003eAdventure Time\u003c\/i\u003e comics. She now runs a new banned book club in Busan, where she lives with her husband, Ryan, and her cat, Dog Baby.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRyan Estrada\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of POORCRAFT: WISH YOU WERE HERE, \u003ci\u003eLearn to Read Korean in 15 Minutes, Ryan Made Mistakes, Wish You Were Here, Broken Telephone, Aki Alliance, \u003c\/i\u003e and many other comics. He started submitting his work to newspapers when he was six years old, and one of those very newspapers finally hired him when he was 16. He has had many adventures around the world since, but the best thing he ever did was marry Kim Hyun Sook.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Iron Circus Comics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50584539562258,"sku":"9781945820427","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a3543bf8-7119-4b82-b637-395b467b069e.jpg?v=1732035276","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/banned-book-club-9781945820427","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}