My Name Is Yoon

by Helen Recorvits

Book Overview

Getting to feel at home in a new country

Yoon's name means "shining wisdom," and when she writes it in Korean, it looks happy, like dancing figures. But her father tells her that she must learn to write it in English. In English, all the lines and circles stand alone, which is just how Yoon feels in the United States. Yoon isn't sure that she wants to be YOON. At her new school, she tries out different names--maybe CAT or BIRD. Maybe...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250057116
• ISBN13: 9781250057112
• Release Date: June 2014
• Publisher: Square Fish
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 9.8" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Great illiustrations, great message

This is a wonderful story about a young Korean girl who has moved to America with her family. At school when she write her name Yoon in English for the first time, she decides that she likes her Korean characters more than the English version because, "My name looks happy in Korean. The symbols dance together." She decides that she would like to go back to Korea because everything is different in America. Every day at school, her nice teacher asks her to write her name on a paper, and Yoon instead writes a different word that she has recently learned. The beautiful illustrations go along with these words, showing Yoon as a bird, cat, and cupcake. In the end Yoon realizes that perhaps America will be a good home, and that, "maybe different is good." A great story for children to read, to aid in understanding and acceptance.

Young Immigrants Featured Review

Immigrant kids recognize that hesitation during roll call when a new teacher gets to their name. I used to dread it, but the experience depended on how a grownup handled these encounters with the unfamiliar. If only all teachers (and immigrant parents) were as wise as the ones in this book! Recorvits' poetic, spare text and Swiatkowska's imaginative paintings explore one aspect of feeling "foreign" -- an immigrant child's name. In a new language and a new alphabet, Yoon's beautiful Korean name seems foreign even to herself. Are you still "Yoon" when people outside the family pronounce your name differently? When they don't know that it means "shining wisdom?" For a child to feel at home in a new country, she needs a loving circle of teachers, parents, and classmates, as well as a good measure of her own courage. Reading My Name is Yoon might compensate somewhat if any of those crucial ingredients are missing.

Mischievous and fun

Mischievous, Korean-born Yoon deals with starting school and learning English. She likes her name in Korean. It means shining wisdom. She is not so sure she likes YOON, her name written in English. The illustrations are stark, rich, and playful. Karen Woodworth Roman, East Asian Children's Books

Wonderful book to share with children of all ages.

This is a wonderful story that can be shared with any age group. It's about a young Asian girl who comes to America and refuses to write her English name. Beautiful story that teaches a lesson at the end. The pictures are spectacular and very intricate. I love this book!