As seen in Allen Say’s The Favorite Daughter, names
can be a very strong tie to your identity when you are young (and when you are
not). A name can denote where you came
from and who your family is or was. The
heroine of Yangsook Choi’s picture book The Name Jar struggles with her
name and her new identity as an American.
Unhei has left her grandparents in Korea, and is starting a
new school in America. When kids have
difficulty pronouncing her name (“Yoon-hye”), she decides she would prefer an
American name. Unhei tries out different
names, and the children in her class decide to help, creating a Name Jar filled
with their suggestions. With some help
from her faraway grandma and a new friend, Unhei takes ownership of her own
name.
Like Yuriko from The Favorite Daughter, Unhei is
teased because of her name, and wishes to change it. And like Yuriko, visits to familiar places
and words from family help Unhei decide to be who she is, because who she is is
special. Choi’s story negotiates the turbulent
waters of adolescence and school with a gentle ease. Her classmates tease Unhei, but are not
cruel. Though their help is misguided
(in wanting her to pick a new name), their desire to aid Unhei with the Name
Jar is well-meaning. Anxiety over a name
is a common childhood complaint, and such Unhei’s story is something to which
many children, regardless of their background, will be able to relate. Choi illustrates her children with bright
faces and easy smiles, giving the book a relaxed feel, so that even when Unhei
is being teased, there does not appear to be any malice in it.
From the beginning, on the second illustrated spread, Choi
sets up the cultural background of her This two page spread sees Unhei saying
goodbye to her grandparents in an airport in Korea, while her grandma gives her
a wooden block with her name in Korean letters on it (we find out later this
block is a name stamp). When Unhei doubts
her name, a trip to Kim’s Deli to pick up kimchi and seaweed reminds her of
Korea. “Just because we’ve moved to
America…doesn’t mean we stop eating Korean food,” her mother says. It is in the market, talking to Mr. Kim that
the reader learns the meaning behind Unhei’s name. Here, feeling safe among her family and
familiar cultural markers, Unhei proudly announces of her name that “My mother
and grandmother went to a name master for it.”
Kirkus Reviews
highlights Choi’s illustrations, saying “The paintings are done in creamy,
earth-tone oils and augment the story nicely.”
The review also praises how Choi “draws from her own experience,
interweaving several issues into this touching account and delicately
addressing the challenges of assimilation.”
Booklist also notes the beauty
of Choi’s art, noting the earth-tones and that “the figures have both stature
and simplicity--as does the story.” The
Name Jar was a nominee for several state book awards, including those from
Utah, Arizona, Arkansas and California.
The Name Jar would pair wonderfully with Allen Say’s The
Favorite Daughter, as both books feature a young girl wrestling with name
anxiety and with her cultural heritage, as well as being personal stories told
by the author/illustrator. The Three
Names of Me by Mary Cummings features a girl adopted from China, and the
three names she claims: one whispered by her birth mother, one from the
orphanage and one from her adopted American parents. Each name represents a piece of who she
is. My Name is Yoon by Helen
Recorvits and beautifully illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska features a similar
conundrum to The Name Jar. Yoon
is in a new country, and writing her name in Korean makes her feel happy, but
her father says she must learn to write it in English. Yoon goes through much of the same
questioning that Unhei does, and the two books make good companions to each
other. For a silly note from the same song,
My Name Is Elizabeth, by Annika Dunklee and illustrated by Matthew
Forsythe is a funny picture book about Elizabeth, who loves her name…but don’t
call her Lizzie. Or Beth. And don’t even think about Betsy. Like Yuriko, Unhei and Yoon, Elizabeth has
strongly linked her identity to her preferred version of her name.
Choi, Yangsook. The
Name Jar. New York: Dragonfly Books,
2001. ISBN: 9780440417996
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