By. An Na
Young Ju, a 4
year old Korean girl, moves to California with her parents. Young Ju believes America to be heaven. However, after moving there the family
struggles to create new lives for themselves while maintaining their Korean
heritage. The novel chronicles Young Ju’s
life, both at home and in school, until she leaves for college.
This book is
fantastic. I highly recommend it. An Na
uses Korean words throughout and references Korean culture a lot
(obviously). The book does a marvelous
job of showing how immigrants struggle with learning a whole new language and a
new culture – especially through the eyes of children who are trying to
reconcile the differences with their home culture and that of American
culture. Young Ju also struggles with
her father’s preferential treatment of her younger brother simply because he is
a boy. Young Ju’s father also struggles
with alcoholism which can plague any family.
This story is also a coming of age story which middle schoolers can
relate to. Overall, the book does a
marvelous and innovative job of describing what life can be like for immigrants
or even any regular family or young girl growing up. There is a lot in this book that merits
classroom discussion.
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