When My Name Was Keoko

Rating:
Summary: Educational and full of morals
Review: Lately for a group project I read a very educational book, with my literature group that I enjoyed very much. The story of the book is based on the war in Korea during the year 1940-1945. The story is about a young Korean boy by the name of Keoko and his family. During this time Keoko and his family face many difficulties and situations where at any moment one could take any of their lives. Because Korea was under control of Japan, the Japanese people were trying to eliminate the Korean religion and replace it with the Japanese religion. So Keoko and his family had to change their Korean names to Japanese and learn the Japanese language. Their flag, folktales, and mainly their whole religion was turned unknown. The only way that Keoko, Sun-Hee, and Tae-yul could remember any of their religion was by their Uncle's stories and pictures, otherwise the Korean religion was lost to them.
This book is When my Name was Keoko, by Linda Sue Park, is very educational and full of important morals such as strength and pride. This book helps people realize how to be proud of their religion and race, not to neglect it or hide it. Keoko and his family face many things that are against their religion. Together they help hide their pride but enjoy it at home. When the Japanese change around their religion they try to stand up for it but like other Koreans don't succeed. Also it shows how one can be strong and get through the hard times that come their way. The book is a good example for young children because of the morals and the reality. The events show how cruel the world can be when there is hate and war among it and how it was during those years that we were not in the world yet. In the book the Koreans were treated like they were nobody, just servants to the Japanese. The events in this book are not just and we children have a right to know of these on-going events so we can actually think about what is happening on the other side of the world. What is happening in other countries is very important and we should know about it so we are aware of how lucky we actually are. Most people think that the events in their household are the worst that could happen, but the reason they feel like their reality is worse is because they have never felt the pain of an on-going war just outside your door, with your family and friends dying by your side one by one. That is why I believe this is a very good educational book for 7th graders to read.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting history
Review: Linda Park is an enjoyable author, but I found this book disappointing. The book, The Year of Impossible Good-byes (referred to in the bibliography) is such a poignant, true account of the same time period for the same age group that this story seems watered down. It is still worth reading, but if you haven't read The Year of Impossible Good-byes, and this part of history interests you, make sure you read them both!

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliantly Written Book
Review: Linda Sue Park does a marvelous job of bringing to life her two distinct narrators, Sun-hee and Tae-yul, sister and brother, who live during the Japanese occupation of Korea, when the Japanese tried to obliterate the Korean culture. People are no longer permitted to speak Korean in public, children are taught to read and write Japanese so that only the older generation still remembers how to read Korean, even their names are changed to Japanese names.

Sun-hee (now Keoko) keeps a diary--which is destroyed in an act of wanton meanness by soldiers looking for "treasonous writings" after the children's uncle, a member of the resistance, goes into hiding. Sun-hee asks,

"How could an alphabet--letters that didn't even mean anything by themselves--be important?
But it *was* important. Our stories, our names, our alphabet. Even Uncle's newspaper.
It was all about words.
If words weren't important, they wouldn't try so hard to take them away."

Tae-yul (to be publicly called Nobuo) takes a more direct approach--he wants to fight back:

"I remember something else, too. How I'd felt hearing about Abuji, the way he'd done nothing to help. Back then I couldn't understand it. Why hadn't he done something?
Those soldiers tonight, tearing apart our house. And me? I'd stood there, frozen. I hadn't done anything--I hadn't even *said* anything. And I'm three years older than Abuji was then.
I know now. What could he have done? What could any of us do?"

This is a moving story about the power of words, and of holding onto what you believe.

Rating:
Summary: When My Name was Keoko
Review: Maybe its because I only got to page 31 is the reason I did not like this book! I felt like this book was very drawn out and I wasn't getting into the thick of things as quickly as I wished. I do, however, love the summary of the book.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Historical Novel for Younger Readers
Review: The author writes about a painful chapter of Korean history in a manner that is appropriate for young readers. Pace is quick. However, in my opinion, Lost Names by Richard Kim is a better written novel based around the same time period and subject matter. Young female readers may enjoy the fact that one of the protagonists is a young precocious girl - however, the author injects "modern" thoughts regarding equal rights for women into her young protagonist that probably were not prevalent in rural Korea during the 1940's.

Rating:
Summary: When My Name Was Keoko
Review: The book When My Name Was Keoko, by Linda Sue Park is a very fun way to learn about Korean history. The book was very interesting and had me reading it every chance I got. The story switched between two people, Sun-hee and Tae-yul, as they told the reader about the Japans occupation of Korea. Tea-yul goes to Japan to become a Kamikaze pilot and tells the story of the military. Sun-hee stays home and tells what is going on in Korea. It is very interesting to see the story from two different points of view. From Sun-hee's view, the Japanese aren't all that bad. They are just a group of people taking over Korea. She enjoys the Japanese culture and accepts what they tell her to do. Tae-yul on the other had has his uncle, a Korean resistance force leader, as his role model and hates the Japanese. He joins the army so that his uncle would not be found and even when he is in the army, he makes a plan so that he could sink the Japanese plane he is flying and not hurt the Americans who were going to save Korea.

I enjoyed this story because it kept me interested the whole time. It never gave away what was going to happen in the end and taught me very much about Korean history. I had never thought that Korean history was very interesting but after I read this book, I wanted to read more. Before this book, I had always wanted to know why people would want to be a Kamikaze pilot or how it would fell to be occupied by another country and after reading this book, it tells in detail how both of those things happened.

When My Name Was Keoko was a very good book about the Japanese occupation. I recommend that everybody read it.

Rating:
Summary: Great Educational and Fun Read
Review: The book When My Name Was Keoko, by Linda Sue Park, was a good book. I read it for a 7th grade English class, and enjoyed reading it. This book is about a painful chapter in Korean history. This book takes place in Korea, in 1940, and is about a Korean family, named Kim, who have to survive in despite of Japanese discrimination during World War II. The young girl in the family, Sun-hee is ignorant and doesn't really understand everything the Japanese do, while her brother, Tae-yul, almost does. Tae-yul joins the Japanese army, and becomes a kamikaze pilot in order to show the strength of the Korean people. The rest of the family has to stay home, and fight for their equality.
I liked this book because it taught many lessons, but wasn't too much of a "school book." Most books we read about World War II talk about the war's affect on the US, but this book shows the war from a whole other perspective. The story kept me reading, but I have read better books. The most enjoyable part of this book was the fact that, every chapter, it switched from Sun-hee's point of view too Tae-yul's point of view. This made the book more interesting because you would read about things from both people's point of view. Reading a book like this allowed me to have a deeper understanding of some themes, problems, and lessons, such as fighting against discrimination. I liked the way Linda Sue Park was extremely descriptive, because it allowed me to see the characters, and feel the hardships of the Kim family. For example, even on the first page, one of the main character's personalities is shown. "I wasn't supposed to listen to men's business, but I couldn't help it...the longer I stayed in the room, the more I heard." This shows the character Sun-hee, and the ways she wanted to know information. I highly recommend this book to young adult readers because it is truthful, teaches lessons, and is a good read.

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating book about the Truth in Korea during WWII
Review: This book was GREAT!!! It was exciting once you got into it. It was about a girl and her brother who lived in Korea when Japan was ruling the country. It told the story from both viewpoints. it was very interesting and had many plot twists once you got into it. I recomend it to historical fiction readers and people who like WWII books. It will give you a new outlook that is very suprising. I highly recomend it!!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read!
Review: This book was so amazing to me. It is unimaginable to lose your identity, culture, and even your own name. I like this novel because it had enough action in the plot to encourage me to continue reading, but still had enough factual information for me to learn some interesting Korean history. I have learned alot about the plight of the Koreans at this time in school, but it was so much better for me to see it through the eyes of Sun-hee, a young girl living amidst the fear and sadness of opression by the Japanese, who were occupying Korea at the time. Also, after learning about World War II Japanese kamikaze pilots, I had always wondered what could possibly drive them to do sacirifice their lives. Seeing the situation through the eyes of a boy who was actually a kamikaze pilot opened my eyes to what goes through their minds about honor and sacrifice. One of the best parts of this novel was the format that Linda Sue Park used. Alternating chapters told by Tae-yul and Sun-hee allowed me to see the story through the eyes of a young man and those of a small girl. They had totally different struggles and ways of viewing them, which was interesting and kept my attention. I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages looking for an interesting and historical novel.

Rating:
Summary: Innocent and touching
Review: This newest book by the VERY FIRST KOREAN NEWBERY WINNER is both innocent and touching. At first the split-narrative alternating between brother and sister put me off--and I do believe Park too neatly overlaps their entries instead of allowing a more natural rhythm--but the technique becomes quite effective once brother Tae-yul enlists in the army.

As in her earlier books, Park's accurate incorporation of historical detail--such as the false announcement that "Kitei Son" of "Japan" had won a gold medal at the Olympics--is both stunning and stimulating. Few American readers will know of these details, and the tense dramatic unfolding of events will prompt many readers, both young and old, to go to their history books to learn more. A fine achievement which opens doors of discussion to these too-long-ignored issues.