The Name Jar

     The Name Jar written and illustrated by Yangsook Choi is a wonderful book to share with children. This is a 30 page multicultural picture book.  The Name Jar provides the children with an opportunity to meet a character from a different country  and get a inside look of what it is like to try to fit in. The illustration is also an enhancement to the book.  This story is about a young korean girl named Unhei, who moves to America with her family.  At her new school, she is considering to use a different name because no one can say her name correctly and others pick on her.  So the class came up with the name jar.  This jar was filled with lots of american names for Unhei to choose from.  Does Unhei choose a new name?  Read the book to find out.

     The illustrations in the book resemble the image of the Americans and the Koreans characters.  The colors help associate the images to reflect the accurate culture of each character.  Also the hair and clothing were created careful to represent the correct culture.  The illustrations are very colorful and has lots of detail.

     According to Literature and the Child, the culture roles in the story "should be accurate, authentic, and free from stereotypes, portrays what is unique to an individual culture and do not distort or misrepresent the culture it reflects".  The Name Jar adhere to the guidelines as described.

     I enjoyed reading The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi.  This book gave a excellent insight on how someone from another county feels when they are trying to fit in with the American culture.   I love the illustration and the soft appearance that is shown throughout the different drawings.

     The Name Jar is recommended for children age three through seven.  I believe this book should be extended to the fifth grade.  I believe it is important for the children to read this book and have many discussions in the classroom regarding the topic addressed within the book.  This is a book that should be shared with the students during the first month of school.


Motivational Activities:
1.  Develop a discussion with the students on how what should should we do when we have difficulty pronouncing other peoples' names.  Also ask the students if it is important to say the name correctly.

2.  Have a class discussion on how we should respond to to people who are different than us and why.

3.  Have the students write a paragraph describing how they would feel if they moved to Korea and had to go to a new school. Would they change their name? Why or why not?


 Reader's Response Questions:
1.  Why did Unhei choose not to tell the class her name on her first day in school?
2.  Why does Unhei's class create the name jar?  What is it for?
3.  How does Unhei feel about the Jar?  How can you tell?
4.  How does Joey and the class support Unhei as she thinks about choosing a new name?  Do you think this was important?  Why or why not?
5.  Have you ever had and experience like Unhei's

References:

Choi, Yangsook. (2001).  The Name Jar.  New York:  Random House

Galda, L., Cullinan, B.E., & Sipe, L.R. (2011).  Literature and the Child.  (7th ed., pp. 12, 24).  Belmont:  Wadsworth Pub Co.