Summary
A Step From Heaven is a story of a
Korean girl and her family. Each chapter in the book tells of an
event that the girl remembers starting at the beach. The book begins
when she was four years old, and since the author writes in the first
person, Young Ju tells of her experience at the beach, afraid of the
waves. Young Ju describes her mother whom she calls Uhmma, her
father, whom she calls Apa, and her grandmother whom she calls
Halmoni. It is Halmoni who teaches Young Ju to pray, telling her
that her grandfather is in heaven. Young Ju thinks there are words
that are magic, like Mi Gook, the Korean word for America. Mi Gook
makes her Apa and Uhmma happy. Soon, Young Ju is told that the
family will be leaving Korea to live in America, they are to stay for
a short while with Apa's sister, Gomo and her husband in California.
Apa finds a cheap apartment for them to stay in until they can find a
better place.
In America, Young Ju has to struggle in
school to understand American ways. At home she speaks Korean, at
school, she learns English. While Young Ju is an excellent student,
always studying and always trying to fit in, her brother does not
like school and skips classes. Young Ju has a best friend named
Amanda but she does not tell Amanda where she lives. Young Ju is
poor and ashamed of her home. Apa forbids Young Ju from seeing
Amanda, fearing that his daughter will become corrupted with Amanda's
American ways. In high school, Young Ju receives an award for being
the top in her class. Young Ju and Amanda remain best friends and
continue to study together at Amanda's house after school. But Young
Ju tells Amanda's parents to drop her off at the library rather than
at her home.
One night, as she came home, her Apa
was waiting for her. He was drunk as usual. He told Young Ju that
he saw her being dropped off at the library and began yelling and
then became physically abusive. To save her daughter, Uhmma stepped
in and began arguing with her husband. Young Ju then called 911 and
her father was taken away. After his release, Young Ju's father
returned to Korea. Gomo offered to pay for the family's return to
Korea, but Uhmma decides to stay in America. Uhmma works three jobs,
Young Ju and Joon Ho also have part time jobs. By the time Young Ju
is ready for college, they have purchased a little house of their
own.
Impressions
Young Ju is an example of an immigrant
who must study hard and learn the ways of others around her, She is
torn between two worlds, having to adjust to America and being a good
Korean girl at home. The book points to the vast differences between
two cultures. The role of women as subservient in Korea is different
than those of American women. But it is not just culture that causes
a chasm between Young Ju and her American friends. She feels shame
for her poverty so does not invite friends over to her house. She is
afraid of her father and hides in her room when he becomes drunk and
abusive. She continues to work hard at school in part to make her
parents proud of her, but in part for herself, since she is told that
in America, she could be almost anything she wants to be. The story
tells of the struggles immigrants often must go through to succeed in
America. The constant work in menial jobs, the language barriers,
the inability to understand American culture all make it difficult to
acclimate to a new life. It is the next generation, with their
experiences in school that will make the transition from that of
poverty to the wealth of an American dream. The novel also touches
on alcoholism, the loss of employment, and the resulting family
violence that can occur because of it.
The theme that seems to be a constant
in the novel is that of heaven. Young Ju mistakenly believes that
America is heaven, because they must travel in the sky to get there.
She was told by her Halmoni that heaven is in the sky. Even though
she is corrected of this misconception, Young Ju still dreams of
climbing the tallest tree so she can reach up to the sky to heaven.
She dreams of touching the clouds.
Use in the library
I think a librarian should introduce
this novel to teachers of English as a second language. The students
will not find the reading too difficult, and may find many
similarities with their own experiences at school and at home.
Another use in the library is to have an activity with students to
discuss words they have found in English, that do not mean what a
dictionary tells them. The example to show them is the word "going"
that Young Ju is confused about. What does it mean to be "going
out"? Students can gather their words and make up their own
explanations to those words and create a dictionary of slang words to
know. Another activity, after reading this book is to have students
make a double column on a piece of paper. On one side, they can
write all the things that make Young Ju Korean. On the other side,
they can write all the things that make Young Ju and American. For
discussion, students can tell why their families came to America.
In celebration of Asian Pacific
Heritage month in May, this book and other historical or biographical
books about Asia, Asians and the immigrant experience in America can
be placed on display. Students can be referred to the following
website to do research about the contributions of Asian Americans to
the United States. http://asianpacificheritage.gov/index.html
Students can participate in this month by setting aside a day for
students to present their research on an Asian country. They can
wear the cultural dress of their country, sing a cultural song, bring
in a cultural food and so on.
Reviews
From School Library Journal
"When four-year-old Young Ju and
her parents emigrate fro Korea to California by plane, the child, who
knows that God is in the sky, concludes that America is heaven. "A
step from heaven," her uncle corrects her after they arrive.
However, life proves to be far from that for the family, which now
includes a new baby. While told in the girl's voice as she matures
from a preschooler into a capable young woman about to set off to
college, the spare but lyrical text has an adult tone. The loosely
structured plot is a series of vignettes that touch upon the
difficulties immigrants face: adjusting to strange customs, learning
a new language, dealing with government bureaucracy, adult working
two jobs each, and children embarrassed by their parents' behavior.
Woven throughout is the underlying theme of dealing with an alcoholic
and abusive father. Na has effectively evoked the horror and small
joys of the girl's home life while creating sympathetic portraits of
all of the members of the family. A beautifully written, affecting
work". By Diane S. Marton, Arlington Country Library, VA.
From Horn Book Magazine
"In brief chapters that have the
intimacy of snapshots, Young Ju tells of her family's immigration
from Korea to the United States and their subsequent struggles in a
new country. From childhood through adolescence, Young Ju's voice is
convincingly articulated, whether as a four-year-old certain that the
plane carrying her into the sky must be heaven-bound or as a
desperate teenager gathering the courage to report her abusive
father. Throughout the novel, images of reaching and dreaming
poignantly convey the young narrator's desire to survive her father's
brutality and its devastating effect on her family. Young Ju's
determination pays off when her mother, emboldened by her daughter's
show of strength, chooses not to follow her husband back to Korea.
An epilogue reveals that Young Ju's inspiration all along has been
her mother, who, powerless in many respects, exerted power in other
ways, working hard to make a better life for her children. "Uhmma
said her hands were her life. But for us, she only wished to see our
hands holding books . . . . Our hands turn pages of books, press
fingertips to keyboard buttons, hold pencils and pens. They are
lithe and tender. The hands of dreams come true" Mother and
daughter exhibit a quiet strength, similarly, each of these vignettes
by first-time author An Na displays an astonishing and memorable
force." By J. M. Brabander
Resources
Brabander, J. M. (2001, July/August).
[Review of the book A step from heaven by An Na]. Horn Book
Magazine, 77(4), 458-459.
Marton, D. S. (2001, May). [Review of
the book A step from heaven by An Na]. School Library
Journal, 47(5), 156.
Na, An. (2001). A step from
heaven. New York, NY: Penguin Books for Young Readers.
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