A Step from Heaven (Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. Children's and Young Adult. Winner (Awards))

Rating:
Summary: A Step From Heaven
Review: "A Step From Heaven" by An Na is an outstanding story of a young girl's move to America with her family. Young Ju struggles to grasp the concept of going to heaven. She is under the impression that her and her family are going to heaven by plane, but soon learns that their destination is America.
America becomes the focus of a new start, good and bad, for Young Ju and her family. A new baby brother is born and her father becomes more violent. Also, Young Ju's apa(father) struggles with his alcohol dependancy.
Through her young life, Young Ju begins studying hard, being successful in school, and cooking, while her father works two jobs and her mother works at night.
Life is not always easy for Young Ju. She faces the struggle of keeping her Korean heritage as her parents want her to, and keeping the peace in the family, while blending in with her American friends. These adult responsibility's Young Ju has grow even stronger as she is forced to call the police after a violent attack by her father that threatens her life and her mother's.
Throughout the book, the reader sees the struggle of the family and the growth of a young Korean girl into a strong women. Any reader would be touched through the story "A Step From Heaven."

Rating:
Summary: An amazing story
Review: A Step From Heaven is an amazing story of a young 4-year old Korean girl who hardly speaks a word of English but moves to America, where in Korea it has the reputation of being a step from heaven. Throughout the book, Young Ju grows up, developing and maturing with every page. You watch her take baby steps into adulthood starting at age 4 and finishing in college. A Step From Heaven grabbed my attention and held it from page 1 to page 156. It is very beautifully written with obvious skill and passion from the author, displaying an outstanding amount of reality. The book ommits a feeling that forces a tear when she is being abused and a quiver of joy whenever she accomplishes the slightests of acheivments. In just the right choice of wording, An Na protrays a sense of the weak understanding and the dashing mind of a 4-year-old that soon developes into the thoughts of an intelegent young woman with a diversity of understanding of her still newly aquired atmosphere as she guides her parents, who both spent their whole lives in Korea, through the complications of their new lives. A Step From Heaven has definatly become one of my favorite books.

Rating:
Summary: amasing story, by a strong spirit
Review: I really enjoyed the story A Step From Heaven! I was really surprised at what a Korean family had to go threw just to live in America. I did not realize how lucky all of us Americans are and how blessed we are to live in such a wonderful place. This book gave me a new outlook on life, in a way, because it made me realize that my life is perfect compared to some of the things that Young Ju's family had to go threw.
At the start of the book, it talks about a scared little girl who does not want to go to America. By the end of the story, she is a young woman, who realizes that what she had in Korea could never be as great as what she had and learned in America.
I recommend this book to everyone who loves a good story! Even more so, I recommend it to those who don't realize how lucky they really are and how great where they live really is. Read it! You will enjoy the entire story.