Authors: Yangsook Choi
The Name Jar
Copyright © 2001 by Yangsook Choi
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Choi, Yangsook.
The name jar / Yangsook Choi.
p. cm.
Summary: After Unhei moves from Korea to the United States, her new classmates help her decide what her name should be.
ISBN 978-0-375-80613-1 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-375-90613-8 (lib. bdg.) — ISBN 978-0-440-41799-6 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-0-307-79344-7 (ebook)
[1. Names, Personal—Fiction. 2. Identity—Fiction. 3. Korean Americans—Fiction.
4. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C446263 Nam 2001
[E]—dc21
00039103
eBook ISBN:
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.1
For Soon An Lee, my mother,
and thanks to Tracy and Michelle
Through the school bus window, Unhei looked out at the strange buildings and houses on the way to her new school. It was her first day, and she was both nervous and excited.
She fingered the little block of wood in her pocket and remembered leaving her grandmother at the airport in Korea.
Her grandmother had wiped away Unhei’s tears and handed her an ink pad and a small red satin pouch.
“Your name is inside,” she had said.
My name?
Unhei had wondered.
Again she took out the red pouch to look at the wooden block with her name carved in it. As she ran her fingers along the grooves and ridges of the Korean characters, she pictured her grandmother’s smile.
“Is that thing for show and tell?” a boy asked Unhei, surprising her.
Unhei looked up as more kids leaned over.
“No … it’s mine,” Unhei answered, quickly putting the pouch back in her pocket.
“Are you new here? What’s your name?” a girl asked.
“Unhei,” said Unhei.
“Ooh-ney?” the girl asked, scrunching up her face.
“Oooh, oooh, oooh-ney!” some kids chanted.
“No, no,” Unhei corrected. “It’s spelled U-N-H-E-I. It’s pronounced Yoon-hye.”
“Oh, it’s Yoo-hey,” the boy said. “Like ‘You, hey!’ What about ‘Hey, you!’”
Just then, the bus pulled up to the school and the doors opened. Unhei hurried to get off.
“You-hey, bye-bye!” the kids yelled as she left. Unhei felt herself blush.