Diverse Perspectives- The Name Jar

 The Name Jar

Written and Illustrated by Yangsook Choi

Dragonfly Books, 2003

Diverse Perspectives Book

       Many books today are promoting diversity and inclusion in the classroom. In this book, Unhei is a new student from South Korea. She is nervous that her Korean name will be too difficult for her fellow classmates to pronounce. She decides that she is going to wait to tell her new classmates her name until she creates a new name. Her classmates help Unhei try to find an American name by creating her a name jar. Unhei is trying to find her place in her new class, and her classmates are welcoming her with open arms. Check this book out to see what name Unhei chooses!

       The illustrations in this story includes many straight lines and muted colors. There are lots of shapes such as squares, rectangles, and circles. The characters are all colored with pastel and watercolors. There are a variety of light and dark colors. The illustrations are in various locations like the school yard, classroom, at home, and in Korea.

      I chose Social Studies as my content and 2nd grade for the grade level. I think this book is a great way to spark the discussion on different cultures, diversity, and inclusion. For this lesson, we could talk about different countries and how they have different cultures. We could discuss how even names are different in other countries. Students could learn about different cultures and how to embrace their cultures in their own society. This will also help promote inclusion and break down cultural barriers in the classroom. I definitely would encourage you to read this heart-warming book to your students one day!

Here is a picture of the cover!