Keum Jin Song lives in Daegu, South Korea, where she was born.

Though she grew up in Iowa, she now lives in South Korea. She teaches at an international school and writes for the childrens and educational markets. Tina is the author of The Girls Guide to Manners, 26 guided reading books from Lakeshore Learning and Compass Media, a coloring book, God Is So Good, and an e-book, Seasons of the Asian Pear Tree. She has partnered with a North Korean refugee organization to send rice balloons over the border. Cho, currently living and teaching in South Korea, has been in the protagonists shoes. With a little push, the balloons soar up and over the border, carrying rice in the darkness of the night over to North Korea. With renewed spirit, volunteers gather in groups, fill the balloons with air, and tie the Styrofoam containers filled with rice to the tails of the balloons. People right over the border dont have food. Villagers glare and grumble, and children protest feeding the enemy, but Yoori doesnt back down. Yoori doesnt know how she can help as shes only a little grain of rice herself, but Appa tells her that they can secretly help the starving people by sending special balloons that carry rice over the border. Starving, he fled to South Korea in search of a better life. Appa grew up in North Korea, where he did not have enough food to eat. Yoori lives in South Korea and doesnt know what North Korea is like, but her father (Appa) does. Beyond that wall and across the sea live children just like me, except they do not have food to eat. We reach a place where mountains be a wall. Book Synopsis Rice from Heaven is a true story about compassion and bravery as a young girl and her community in South Korea help deliver rice via balloons to the starving and oppressed people in North Korea. About the Book This picture book is based on a true story about compassion and bravery as a young girl and her community in South Korea help deliver rice via balloons to the starving and oppressed people in North Korea.

Rice from Heaven by Tina M. Cho