BIBLIOGRAPHY
Na, An. "An Unabridged Production." A Step from Heaven. Recorded 2002. Random House Audio Publishing Group. 2001. compact disc ISBN: 0807216127
SUMMARY
A Step from Heaven written by An Na was a novel about a young girl and her family who immigrated from South Korea to the United States, specifically San Diego. As the story progressed, the little girl, Young Ju, told her family's story and how they adapted to life in the United States. The story followed her journey from four years old to her getting ready for college. It was a bittersweet novel, since it was filled with many struggles as the mother and father fought to stay afloat and understand their new culture. It was also filled with some happiness, especially for Young Ju, as she succeeded in school and was able to make friends and develop into a confident, intelligent, and mature young lady.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
A Step from Heaven was a contemporary realistic fiction novel with some authentic language from South Korea. The novel followed the journey and emotional growth of Young Ju and her family who were all born in South Korea and moved to the United States when she was four years old. Throughout the novel, Young Ju told the story from her own first person narrative as a young child until she ready for college. Young Ju told about her family's life in San Diego with all the true to life events of a young family and used their dialogue to help the reader understand all of the family members. The reader learned that Young Ju experienced going to school, making friends, and not getting along with her little brother, and even some unexpected twists in her journey, such as when Young Ju's grandmother passed away in South Korea, and her father got a DUI, and beat her mother. Every few years, Young Ju's voice changed and as her voice changed, the mood and the tone of the novel also changed for the reader.
Readers weren't expecting some of the events that took place in the novel, but weren't surprised as they followed Young Ju and her family's life. Times were hard for them, since Young Ju's father and mother didn't understand English and were forced to work and have the family live in poverty. They struggled living in an apartment in the present fast-paced life of San Diego while trying to get green cards and gain the rights to become U.S. citizens. It was a struggle, but throughout the novel, the reader was able to understand the importance of hard work and never giving up on dreams and an education. These themes were portrayed through Young Ju's life at the end of the novel, since she became one example of the American dream. Readers felt a bittersweet feeling in the end, because they knew that life was harder and had completely changed for Young Ju, but that it was also going to be better in the future.
AWARDS, REVIEWS, AND RECOGNITIONS
*Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, 2001-2003 Winner Text
*Bay Area Book Reviewers Association Award, 2002 Winner Children's Literature
*Children's Book Award, 2002 Winner Young Adult-Fiction
*Cuffies: Children's Booksellers Choose Their Favorite (and not-so-favorite) Books of the Year, 2001 Winner Most Promising New Author
*IRA Children's and Young Adult's Book Award, 2002 Winner Young Adult Fiction International
*Kiriyama Prize, 2001 Notable Book Fiction
*Michael L. Printz Award, 2002 Winner
*National Book Award, 2001 Finalist Young People's Literature
*White Ravens Award, 2002 Winner
*Bay Area Book Reviewers Association Award, 2002 Winner Children's Literature
*Children's Book Award, 2002 Winner Young Adult-Fiction
*Cuffies: Children's Booksellers Choose Their Favorite (and not-so-favorite) Books of the Year, 2001 Winner Most Promising New Author
*IRA Children's and Young Adult's Book Award, 2002 Winner Young Adult Fiction International
*Kiriyama Prize, 2001 Notable Book Fiction
*Michael L. Printz Award, 2002 Winner
*National Book Award, 2001 Finalist Young People's Literature
*White Ravens Award, 2002 Winner
Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Jun. 1, 2001 (Vol. 97, No. 19))
Young Ju's parents don't want her to become too American, and Young Ju is ashamed of them. It's the classic immigrant child conflict, told here in the present tense with the immediacy of the girl's voice, from the time she's a toddler in a small Korean village wondering why the adults talk about America as "heaven." Then there's her bewilderment as a first-grader in the U.S. trying to learn the rules and understand the words and the accents. Each chapter is a story in itself, with dramatic surprise or quiet reversal. The tales blend together into a beautiful first novel that takes Ju through her teenage years until she's an A-student ready to leave for college. The focus is on family and what happens at home. Her father, furious at having to work two laboring jobs and grief-stricken at his mother's death in Korea, becomes an increasingly violent alcoholic. He forbids Young Ju from seeing her best friend. She disobeys him, but she's careful never to bring her friends to her shabby home. Most moving is the chapter about her visit with her father to the Immigration Office. He's distrustful, enraged that he's so helpless and that she's in control; she's embarrassed by his behavior even as she feels his anguish. Young Ju's mother is a strong figure in the background until the girl suddenly sees her as a person, who tells her, "In America, women have choices." This isn't a quick read, especially at the beginning when the child is trying to decipher American words and customs, but the coming-of-age drama will grab teens and make them think of their own conflicts between home and outside. As in the best writing, the particulars make the story universal. Steer teens who like this on to Amy Tan's adult book The Joy Luck Club (1989). Category: Books for Older Readers--Fiction. 2001, Front Street, Gr. 9-12. Starred Review
Young Ju's parents don't want her to become too American, and Young Ju is ashamed of them. It's the classic immigrant child conflict, told here in the present tense with the immediacy of the girl's voice, from the time she's a toddler in a small Korean village wondering why the adults talk about America as "heaven." Then there's her bewilderment as a first-grader in the U.S. trying to learn the rules and understand the words and the accents. Each chapter is a story in itself, with dramatic surprise or quiet reversal. The tales blend together into a beautiful first novel that takes Ju through her teenage years until she's an A-student ready to leave for college. The focus is on family and what happens at home. Her father, furious at having to work two laboring jobs and grief-stricken at his mother's death in Korea, becomes an increasingly violent alcoholic. He forbids Young Ju from seeing her best friend. She disobeys him, but she's careful never to bring her friends to her shabby home. Most moving is the chapter about her visit with her father to the Immigration Office. He's distrustful, enraged that he's so helpless and that she's in control; she's embarrassed by his behavior even as she feels his anguish. Young Ju's mother is a strong figure in the background until the girl suddenly sees her as a person, who tells her, "In America, women have choices." This isn't a quick read, especially at the beginning when the child is trying to decipher American words and customs, but the coming-of-age drama will grab teens and make them think of their own conflicts between home and outside. As in the best writing, the particulars make the story universal. Steer teens who like this on to Amy Tan's adult book The Joy Luck Club (1989). Category: Books for Older Readers--Fiction. 2001, Front Street, Gr. 9-12. Starred Review
Jeanne K. Pettenati, J.D. (Children's Literature)
A young Korean girl and her family immigrate to America, hoping to create a better life. This poignant story begins when Young Ju is four years old and ends when she is going off to college. Despite her age, Young Ju is old beyond her years. Unlike many of the American classmates she meets, this child of immigrants deals with poverty, abuse and living up to an ideal expected by her elders. Sadness permeates her short life--her father's alcoholism, her parents' disintegrating marriage, incomplete friendships and trying to make sense of an incomprehensible world. There are moments where light shines in her bleak world, but not many. After enduring many, many disappointments, Young Ju's life brightens when her parents separate. Her mother becomes a friend, an ally. Together with her younger brother, they make a new beginning. There is the promise of a better world, after all. This book enriches readers' understanding of Korean culture and of the immigrant experience shared by many. 2001, Front Street. Ages 12 and up.
A young Korean girl and her family immigrate to America, hoping to create a better life. This poignant story begins when Young Ju is four years old and ends when she is going off to college. Despite her age, Young Ju is old beyond her years. Unlike many of the American classmates she meets, this child of immigrants deals with poverty, abuse and living up to an ideal expected by her elders. Sadness permeates her short life--her father's alcoholism, her parents' disintegrating marriage, incomplete friendships and trying to make sense of an incomprehensible world. There are moments where light shines in her bleak world, but not many. After enduring many, many disappointments, Young Ju's life brightens when her parents separate. Her mother becomes a friend, an ally. Together with her younger brother, they make a new beginning. There is the promise of a better world, after all. This book enriches readers' understanding of Korean culture and of the immigrant experience shared by many. 2001, Front Street. Ages 12 and up.
Deborah Stevenson
(The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July/August2001 (Vol. 54, No. 11))
Even as a little girl, Young Ju understands that there are family tensions, that her father is an unhappy man, and that his wife and his mother are hoping for better things. Young Ju's parents hope to find it by taking their daughter and moving from Korea to Mi Gook, the United States, which is a step from heaven. That step is farther than anticipated, as the hoped-for financial success isn't forthcoming and Young Ju's father continues his abusive ways. As the years go by, Young Ju grows more Americanized, becoming, along with her brother, the translator of English and of America for her family and resenting more and more her father's rigidity and abuse. This is a quietly but effectively told story, with the first-person present-tense narration broken up into brief titled sections that are more vignettes than chapters; they're sufficiently connected to create a poignant overview of a life undergoing extraordinary change as Young Ju loses a country, a grandmother, and, ultimately, a father (her father, after being arrested for assaulting Young Ju's mother, leaves her for another woman). Na has a streamlined, unaffected style that offers childlike focus without being babyish (after wishfully telling her second-grade classmates that her very-much-alive younger brother is dead and reveling in the attention, Young Ju says, “I play with my fuzzies, scratch and sniff my stickers, and think about how nice it is that my brother is dead”). A contemporary and personal immigrant tale, this will make an affecting counterpoint to well-worn stories of Ellis Island. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2001, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2001, Front Street, 156p. Grades 6-9.
Even as a little girl, Young Ju understands that there are family tensions, that her father is an unhappy man, and that his wife and his mother are hoping for better things. Young Ju's parents hope to find it by taking their daughter and moving from Korea to Mi Gook, the United States, which is a step from heaven. That step is farther than anticipated, as the hoped-for financial success isn't forthcoming and Young Ju's father continues his abusive ways. As the years go by, Young Ju grows more Americanized, becoming, along with her brother, the translator of English and of America for her family and resenting more and more her father's rigidity and abuse. This is a quietly but effectively told story, with the first-person present-tense narration broken up into brief titled sections that are more vignettes than chapters; they're sufficiently connected to create a poignant overview of a life undergoing extraordinary change as Young Ju loses a country, a grandmother, and, ultimately, a father (her father, after being arrested for assaulting Young Ju's mother, leaves her for another woman). Na has a streamlined, unaffected style that offers childlike focus without being babyish (after wishfully telling her second-grade classmates that her very-much-alive younger brother is dead and reveling in the attention, Young Ju says, “I play with my fuzzies, scratch and sniff my stickers, and think about how nice it is that my brother is dead”). A contemporary and personal immigrant tale, this will make an affecting counterpoint to well-worn stories of Ellis Island. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2001, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2001, Front Street, 156p. Grades 6-9.
CONNECTIONS
*Review the phrase made by Young Ju's father about her being “too American” and explain its meaning in the novel, using examples.
*Discuss the authenticity of the language in the novel and why it is important to the reader.
*Research about the author and compare and contrast An Na's life to Young Ju's life in the novel using a graphic organizer.
*Perform research about South Korea and write short reports in groups about the country's history, religion, art and culture, etc.
*Other great books about overcoming adversity and adapting to new environments:
Flake, Sharon. The Skin I'm In. ISBN 9781423103851
Farmer, Nancy. A Girl Named Disaster. ISBN 9780140386356
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