My Name is Yoon

Yoon is a young girl who has moved from Korea to America. She is going to start school and her father tells her she must learn to print her name in English. But her name doesn't look good in English. It's lines and has no joy. In Korean her name "looks happy" and "the symbols dance together." There are so many new things to adjust to and so much change. On her first day of school Yoon's teacher talks all about a cat and sings a cat song. Then she asks Yoon to write her name but Yoon refuses. At home she tells her father they should go back to Korea. She doesn't want to be there and she doesn't want to write her name. Then, one day she makes a friend and she writes CUPCAKE as her name. Her father is very proud of her schoolwork. Maybe she can be accepted and successful in this new country. She writes YOON on her paper at long last and her teacher hugs her and says, "You are Yoon!" And in Korean, Yoon means Shining Wisdom. 32 pages (It would be interesting to read MY NAME IS SANGOEL by Karen Lynn Williams along wit this.)