The Name Jar

The Name Jar by Yangook Choi is a great story about a young girl from Korea named Unhei. She has just come from Korea with her family and is about to start school in America. On her first day on the bus, she get teased about her name. When she enters her classroom for the first time she feels worried about telling the class her name. She decides to tell the class that she will come up with a name on her own and then will tell the class. The next day at school, the whole class has created a jar that they have placed their favorite names in. They tell Unhei that she can pick any name she likes from the jar. The jar continues for a few days while Unhei discovers what her real name really means to her.

This is a great book that can be shared with students who have a new student coming to the class. A teacher could use read this book to their class before the student comes from another country so the class can understand how this student may feel. This book can teach students to accept others even if they are different from themselves. Parents could also use this book at home to read to children who need help accepting their name or accepting themselves. This book is great for any age child but especially upper elementary students because this is the age that children begin to tease others.