Summary for The Name Jar:

The Name Jar is a charming story about a young girl, recently emigrated from Korea, who is starting school in America. Her name is Unhei and after being teased on the bus she decides to change her name. Her fellow classmates assist her by filling a large glass jar with some name suggestions. In the end she decides to keep her name nad her classmates even embrace their own Korean nicknames. One student has a character stamp made that read, Chinku, the Korean work for friend. This is a really sweet story about fitting in with your classmates and finding pride in yourself and your heritage.

Reccommendations for Parents:

This book is an excellent way to inspire pride in your child's heritage and culture. It also may spark a conversation about what their name means. After reading this with your child you may soon find yourself telling them a story about their own family heritage and researching the meaning behind various names in your own family.

Reccommendations for Teachers:

While this book may be a little advanced for some beginning English learners, it is still a really good book to expose them to. The main character, Unhei, is one they can identify with and reading this story may give them an opportunity to share their own stories with the class. Thsi story could also inspire a student writing assignment abou tthe meanings of their own names.

Personal Note:

The book was really fun for me to read and it made me curious about the meaning behind my name. I also thought for a moment as to whether or not I would change my name if given the chance. This book is invaluable in my multicultural classroom and I would recommend it as a read aloud, especially in a classroom with English Language Learners.

Summary For Quick as a Cricket:

This is a very simple, cute story about all the different facets of a child's personality. It describes all the different parts fo the main character's personality and the end it shows you that altogether they make one complete person.

Recommendations for Parents:

The story is precious, but the illustrations are even better! There is so much to see on each page and in every illustration that your child will want to stare at the pictures more than they'll want you to read it to them. The details are wonderful. This also makes a great book for your beginning and emergent readers because the text is simple and easily decoded.

Recomendations for Teachers:

This book is a fun read aloud for beginning elementary students, completel with creative and inspiring illustrations. In addition to being a great read aloud this book is also great for emergent readers because of the simple text and also because the pictures tell a compelling story even if the reader can't completely decode the text yet.

Personal Note:

The was one of my favorite books growing up. I memorized the words quickly and used to love to stare at the pictures. I think this book has an excellent message about being proud of all the parts of your personality and I think it's a feel good story no matter how old you are.