Yangsook Choi was born in Seoul, Korea and moved to the United States in 1991 in order to attend art school. When she graduated from an MFA program in New York she had already received a contract to write her first book The Sun Girl and the Moon Boy, a retelling of a Korean folktale. Since then she has written and illustrated many more books including The Name Jar, Behind the Mask, and Peach Heaven. Her books have received several awards, including the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award and the Skipping Stones Award. Chicago Public Library has deemed her books as the "Best of the Best" and have been selected by PBS Reading Rainbow.
The Name Jar is a story about a young girl named Unhei who moves to America from Korea and is anxious to fit in at her new school. She decides that she wants an American name after some kids on the bus teased her, so when she first introduces herself to her class she tells them that she will have a name by the end of the week. The other students decide to put names in a jar for her to choose from. By the end of the week, Unhei is ready to introduce herself and choose her name.
This book has such a great message in it, and is the right level for Liv. It has multidimensional characters, interesting language, visual appeal, multiple opportunities for connections, and has great multicultural representation. The author conveys her message in a unique way and students will think about their names in a new way. I think Liv will relate to this book because everyone has something about themselves that they don't like and everyone wants to fit in.
WOW! This is a great multi-cultural book! I've read this story before and I agree that it does have a compelling message. This story reminds me of another wonderful multi-cultural story called "My Name is Yoon". If Liv enjoys this book, she would probably like "My Name is Yoon". I WONDER what Liv's text-to-self connection will be to the story you chose?
ReplyDeleteWOW--I love the multi-cultural aspect. I think it's really important for students to see that analyzing books that have multi-cultural aspects are a norm in schools. It seems to be an early way to kick out the idea of not liking people because they're different from you. I WONDER how your students respond to it. Do you ever have an instance where they ask why a character is so different?
ReplyDeleteHeather, WOW! I love this book and am so glad you shared it with us. Insecurity is a feeling every student can relate to; presenting it in a multi-cultural aspect is an added bonus. I will be sure to add this to my collection one day. This story has a problem/solution aspect to it also. I WONDER what students could come up with as alternative solutions for Unhei besides a name jar?
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ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this book! I had never heard of it but it is definitely a great way to add a multicultural aspect into the classroom. I know it can be hard for students to understand that not everyone in the world looks the same since, at least in my area, there aren't very many multicultural people. I've had a few incidents this year of pointing out that we have a few students in our school that are different and I know my students don't mean anything by it but I still try to talk to them about how we are all different in certain ways and that is what makes us special, but then again, we all have a lot in common as well. I guess my WOW was just that you shared this book and that I would love to add it to my collection of books. I WONDER if you had ever thought about any activities to go along with this book? It might be neat to have a name jar and switch names for a day or to use a name jar to name something in the room. For example: I have a weather person who we voted on to name Brock, but I could have done the name jar instead.
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