The Name Jar

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

I enjoyed this book. Although the book is probably written for older elementary kids; I think I could still use it in a pre-k class. I would use it for a read aloud. However, I am not sure I would choose to read the entire book at one time. The book is about a little girl from Korea named Unhei. she wants to choose a more American name for herself after come kids on her bus make fun of her Korean name. The children in Unhei's class put name suggestions in a jar to help Unhei come up with an idea for her new name. Unhei makes a new friend at school named Joey. Joey shows interest in Unhei's name stamp and learns to pronounce her name correctly. Unhei's mother tells her that she is different and that her name is special. In the end Unhei chooses to keep her own name. At the beginning of the book Unhei doesn't want to be different, but by the end she realizes that being different is o.k. and that her name was special.
This book can help kids understand that it is o.k. to be different. Some of our differences make us who we are and we should be proud of them. This book also shows the impact students can have on one another. After the kids on the bus made fun of her name, Unhei was ready to change it. If these kids had never made fun of her, Unhei would never have felt so self conscious about her name. It's terrible that kids can have such a strong negative impact on one another. I think we have to be careful as teachers and never dismiss kids teasing as just something that kids do. As we see later in the book kids can also have a strong positive impact on one another. The children in Unhei's class were willing to accept her and help her in choosing a new name. In the end the children applauded Unhei's choice of her own name. Joey especially helped Unhei realize that she could be herself and that being different was special in a good way. It is so good children to be in an atmosphere of acceptance, respect and mutual helpfulness. We need to promote this atmosphere in our classrooms whenever we can.