The Name Jar

By: Yangsook Choi

The Name Jar is a multicultural children's book for the audience of primary grades, usually Kindergarten through 5th graders. The author, Yangsook Choi, relates to this story, because she moved from Korea to New York. This books genre is contemporary realistic fiction. This story could relate to anyone from a different country who moves somewhere else and it is hard to make friends.

The book is about a young girl, named Unhei, who moved from Korea to the United States. Before she left, her grandmother gave her a special stamp with her name on it in Korean. When Unhei took the bus to school, some of the kids were trying to pronounce her name and having trouble. It made Unhei embarrassed that her name was so hard. When she got to class, this boy named Joey that was outside the classroom, wanted everyone to meet the new kid in class. When they asked her what her name was, she basically said she'll get back to them once she decides. She tells her mom she wants to change her name when she gets home, but her mom said why would she, her name means grace and it is beautiful. Regardless, Unhei wants everyone to call her something that is common. She goes back to class, and her classmates have a jar with recommendations of new names, Unhei is pleased by that so she is just trying to decide which name to go with. Meanwhile, after school, she runs errands with her mom into a Korean market, and speak with Mr. Kim, the owner of the market. He also tells Unhei that her name is a very pretty name. Another day in class goes by, and Joey introduces himself and asks Unhei does she really not have a name? So, she stamps her name and shows him. On the weekend, she goes to Mr. Kim's Market and sees Joey there, and he hears Mr. Kim call Unhei and so he pronounces it wrong at first, but Unhei corrected it. When they got back to class, the name jar was gone and all the classmates were losing it. Unhei decides her name is special, and so she teaches her classmates and teacher, how to spell it and what it means in Korean and in English. Later that school day, Joey confesses he stole the name jar because he likes her name better than the other ones. He also suggests that she should put Korean nicknames for everyone in class, but that he already has his and he stamps his name on the same paper she stamped hers, and his nickname is Chinku, which stands for friend.

Reader's Response Questions

Why was Unhei scared to reintroduce herself to her classmates?

Did the name jar help her?

Would you change your name to fit into the group?

Why are other cultures important?

If you enjoyed The Name Jar, the author Yangsook Choi wrote other awesome books such as:

Behind the Mask

New Cat

Peach Heaven

Websites:

 Choi, Y. (2015). The Name Jar. Retrieved September 04, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGjd_T9oOfA 

 Welcome. (n.d.). Retrieved September 04, 2016, from http://www.yangsookchoi.com/