Anj5°°k CUi

AlfrcJ A. K n ° p f, New Ark

 For Soon An Lee, my mother,
and thanks to Tracy and Michelle

hrough 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.
 |
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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.
 1
Unhei stood in the doorway of her new and noisy classroom. Unhei pictured the kids on the bus. “Um, I haven’t
She was relieved that the kids on the bus had gone to other picked one yet,” she told the class. “But I’ll let you know
rooms, but her face still felt red. by next week.”
“Aren’t you going in?” asked a curly-haired boy with lots of As Mr. Cocotos showed her to her
dots on his face. “You’re the new girl, right?” he asked cheerfully. desk, she felt many round, curious - *g>~-
Unhei nodded, and before she could walk away, the boy took eyes on her. ^
her hand and pulled her through the door. “Why doesn’t she have a name?” | 1/ y %
“Here’s the new girl!” he announced so loudly that the she heard someone whisper.
teacher, Mr. Cocotos, almost dropped his glasses. “Maybe she robbed a bank in < ,(?_Jr”rT
Mr. Cocotos thanked him and greeted Unhei. Korea and needs a new identity,”
“Please welcome our newest student,” he said to a boy replied.
the class. “She and her family just arrived from JttikHHBgfe
Korea last week.”
Unhei smiled broadly and tried not to lapt:
show her nervousness. B
“What’s your name?” someone shouted.
 On the bus home, nobody teased her, but Unhei kept
thinking about her name.
“How was school, Unhei?95 her mother asked when she
walked in. “Did you understand the teacher?99
Unhei simply nodded. She unpacked her schoolbag and set
the red pouch by a photograph of her grandma.
“Fm glad you are learning English well,” her mother said.
“You must study hard, behave nicely, and get good grades to
show that you’re a good Korean.”
“I will,” replied Unhei. “But... but I think I would like my
own American name,” she said quickly.
Her mother looked at her with surprise. “Why? Unhei is
a beautiful name. Your grandma and I went to a name master
for it.”
“But it’s so hard to pronounce,” Unhei complained. “I don’t
want to be different from all the American kids.”
“You are different, Unhei,” her mother said. “That’s a good
thing!”
Unhei just wrinkled her nose.
 l&NYCS ». w—i

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Later that day, Unhei and her mother went grocery shopping in their new Her mother picked up cabbage to make kimchi—Korean-style spicy pickled
neighborhood. They passed Fadil’s Falafel, Tony’s Pizza, and Dot’s Deli. A big cabbage—and other vegetables and meat. She also found some seaweed,
graffiti-painted garbage truck roared like a lion as it took off down the street. Unhei’s favorite, for soup. It made Unhei smile.
Nothing sounded or looked familiar—until they got to Kim’s Market. The sign “Just because we’ve moved to America,” her mother said, “doesn’t mean we
was in both English and Korean. stop eating Korean food.”
 That evening, Unhei stood in front of the bathroom mirror.
“Hi! My name is Amanda,” she said cheerfully. Then she wrinkled her nose.
“Hi! My name is Laura. Hmm. Maybe not...” Her smile turned down.
Nothing sounded right. Nothing felt right.
I don’t think American kids will like me, she worried as she began to brush
her teeth.
“Ha-ee, ma eem id Shoozhy,” she said to the mirror with her mouth fall of
toothpaste.

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SilSiSSlii

Ilf1 At the checkout counter, a friendly man

smiled at Unhei. “Helping your mother with
the shopping?” he asked.
Unhei nodded.
“I’m Mr. Kim,” he said. “And what is your
namer
“Unhei,” she answered.
“Ahh, what a beautiful name,” he said.
“Doesn’t it mean grace?”
Unhei nodded again. “My mother and
grandmother went to a name master for it,”
she told him.
“A graceful name for a graceful girl,” Mr.
Kim said as he put their groceries into bags.
“Welcome to the neighborhood, Unhei.”
 The next morning, when XJnJiei arrived at school, she found a
glass jar on her desk with some pieces of paper in it. Unhei took
one out and read it aloud. “Daisy.”
“That’s my baby sister’s nickname, but she said you can use it
if you want,” said Cindy, who sat next to her.
Unhei took out the rest of the paper.
“Tarnela,” she read.
“I got it from a storybook,” said Nate. “She was smart and
brave.”
Unhei nodded and unfolded another piece. “Wensdy?”
“Yeah. You came here on Wednesday,” said Ralph.
“Thank you...for your help.” A smile spread over Unhei’s
face.
Ralph quickly said, “We’ll put more names in. You can pick
whatever you like—or pick them all, and you’ll have the longest
name in history!”
 At three o’clock, the bell rang for the end of the school day. Unhei looked
out the window and saw it was sprinkling. It’s the same rain, she thought, but in
a different place. She watched other kids leaving in groups.
“Hey!” a familiar voice called out to her.
Unhei turned around to see the curly-haired boy again.
“I’m Joey,” he said. “And you? Don’t you have any name?”
Unhei thought for a moment. “Well...1 can show you,” she said, and took
out the small red pouch. She pressed the wooden block on the ink pad and then
stamped it on a piece of paper.

“This is my name stamp,” she said. “My grandma gave it to me. In Korea,
I can use it as a signature when I open a bank account or write a letter. And
whenever I miss my grandma, I use it to fill a piece of paper. Want to try it?”
She offered the stamp to Joey, and he carefully inked the stamp and pressed
it hard on the paper. The red characters gleamed against the whiteness.
“Wow. That’s beautiful,” Joey said. “Can I keep the paper?”
“Sure,” Unhei said. And then the two of them shared her umbrella as they
walked to the school bus.

mm
 Every day, the jar got fuller with more names, and Unhei read
them all. She found a few names she liked—Miranda. Stella.
Avery. They sounded interesting.
“I hope you choose the name I put in,” Marco told her at
snack time.
“I’ve put in three more,” said Ralph. “Madison, Park, and
Lex. They’re my favorite street names.”
“Maybe you should close your eyes and draw a name,” Rosie
suggested.
Ralph frowned. “That’s silly. What if she doesn’t like the
name she draws?”
“Well, we didn’t get to choose our names when we were bom,
did we?” Rosie argued.
Everyone thought about this.
„ ■Hap; ■ i

When Unhei got home from school that day, her little brother ran
to give her a letter. It was from her grandma.
She opened it quickly. It said,

To my Unhei,
I hope you are enjoying your new school and new friends.
Be sure to help your mother and your little brother.
Here the moon is up, but there the sun is up. No matter how
far apart we are and no matter how different America isfrom
Korea, you’ll always be my Unhei.
Your grandma forever

Unhei took out her wooden stamp and filled a paper with it. She
thought for a long time in front of the bathroom mirror.
 On Saturday, Unhei walked to Mr. Kim’s store. Mr. Kim was
helping a customer, but he looked up and greeted her.
“Hi, Unhei!”
“Hello, Mr. Kim,” Unhei replied. She felt as if she was back
in her old neighborhood in Korea.
“Hey!” said the customer, turning around. It was Joey.
“Your name is Un-hee?” he asked her with his eyes open
wide.
Unhei looked quickly at Mr. Kim, then turned to Joey. She
nodded slowly. “Yes. It’s pronounced Yoon-hye.”
“And it means grace” Mr. Kim added.
“Yoon-hye,” Joey said slowly and this time perfectly. It made
Unhei smile.
“I’ll have it ready for you tomorrow,” said Mr. Kim to Joey.
“Thank you, Mr. Kim. See you Monday, Unhei,” Joey said
to her.
He left before she could ask him why he was at the store.
 On Monday, Unhei came to class early to look at the names one last As other kids arrived, they helped looko
time. Soon, Mr. Cocotos came in and Ralph shouted at him, “The name jar
But the jar wasn’t on her desk. Instead, there was just a single piece is gone! The jar with all the names in it!”
of paper. Paper with a name on it. Unhei slipped it in her pocket. “Gone?” Mr. Cocotos replied,, With a look of concern, he asked
“Where’s your name jar?” Ralph asked as soon as he saw it was gone. Untie!, “Did you get a chance to read all the names?”
“I don’t know,” Unhei said. It wasn’t on Mr. Cocotos’s desk or on Unhei nodded. She took a breath. “I’m ready to introduce myself,”
any other desk. And it wasn’t on the counters or any of the shelves. she said.
— —---------------- ------------------------

Unhei wrote her name in both English and best, so I chose it again. Korean names mean something. Unhei
Korean on the chalkboard. means grace ”
“I liked the beautiful names and funny “Grace! Grace In-hye!” shouted Ralph. Everyone tried to say it.
names you thought of for me,” she told the “Yn-ha-e. Unh-yee. Unhae.”
class. “But I realized that I liked my name Unhei said her name again slowly and clearly. Soon, the kids began
to say it better. Even Mr. Cocotos. They applauded Unhei’s choice.
“I was named after a flower,” Rosie whispered to Unhei.
“Lots of American names have meanings, too,” Mr. Cocotos
reminded everyone.
When the class was dismissed, Unhei heard her new friends say
good-bye.
“Bye, Unhei. See you tomorrow.” “G’bye, Unhei.”
Unhei said good-bye and then looked around for Joey. But he was
already gone.
 ■: .

% ..
.***%?*

“Unhei! Unhei! Come downstairs!” Mother called up to

Unhei. “Your friend is here!”
Unhei rushed down to see who she meant.
There stood Joey. And in his arms was the name jar.
“Where did you find it?” asked Unhei breathlessly.
Joey looked embarrassed. “Um, well, I took it. But only
because I wanted you to keep your own name. And you did!”
He reached in and pulled out the names. “Do you want to
keep them?” he asked.
“Thank you. I’ll keep them as a souvenir,” Unhei said
happily. Then she pulled out the piece of paper from her
pocket. “Do you want this back?”
Joey grinned. “You can keep it. I’ll return the name jar to
the class. Maybe you could put some Korean nicknames in it
for us. Names with good meanings.”
“I could do that,” agreed Unhei.
“I’ve already got a Korean nickname,” Joey said. “Mr. Kim
helped me choose it.”
 THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright © 2001 by Yangsook Choi

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

Conventions. Published in the United States of America by Alfred A. Knopf,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House
of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York. KNOPF, BORZOI BOOKS, and the
colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

www.randomhouse.com/kids

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 0-375-80613-X (trade) — ISBN 0-375-90613-4 (lib. bdg.)
[1. Names, Personal—Fiction. 2. Identity—Fiction. 3. Korean Americans—Fiction.
4. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C446263 Nam 2001
[E]— dc21 00-039103

First edition
Printed in the United States of America
July 2001
10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Carefully, he pulled a small silver felt pouch from his pocket. Then he
took out a dark wooden stamp with beautiful Korean characters carved
sharply into it. He pressed it on the ink pad and then on the piece of paper
next to her name.
“Chinku,” read Unhei. “That means friendX”
And Chinku smiled back.