dasbolz

This book is about young Yoon, probably around 6-years-old, who has come to America from Korea. Yoon is getting ready to attend school in the US and is not excited, and is really wishing to go back to Korea. Her father shows her how to write her name in English, and she is upset with how her letters seem to stand alone instead of how her name appears in Korean, which she describes as happy symbols. Her teacher is patient with her, each day introducing a new word to the class. Each day after the word is described, Yoon stubbornly writes that word as her name instead of her name in English. She write cat, then bird, then cupcake, each of these days imagining herself to become these things, until finally she writes her actual name, much to the teacher's joy. She decides that she is the same girl no matter what her name, and that no matter what her name will still mean shining wisdom. The pictures in the book really lead to the imagery of each of the things that Yoon pretends to be as she comes to term with living in a new place. You really get a sense of how she is feeling through the pictures, and how she is slowly warming to the idea of her new home. The illustrations appear to be mostly paintings, with some pencil details. The space on each page is purposely utilized, specifically on the page where she is imagining to be a cat, and her face is split between two pages, on one side her normal self, and on the other her as a pencil-drawn cat. This book would be most enjoyed with students K-2. It would be a great resource for any student who is trying to integrate into a new community, whether it be from another country or more locally. It could be used as a general conversation starter of community. It could also be used to introduce the basic ideas of imagery or personification to young readers.

2022-11-14 18:47