The Name Jar By: Yangsook Choi

Unhei was on a bus to her new school. She had a wooden block and an ink pad with her that her grandmother had given her before she moved to America from Korea. The children on the bus made fun of her because of her name. Mr. Cocotos was her new teacher and he and the class kindly welcomed Unhei. They asked her name but she said she hadn’t picked one yet. When Unhei went home she told her mom she wanted an American name. Her mother was shocked. She said it was too hard to pronounce to everyone. Her mother told her that being different is okay. There was a Korean market down the street from their house where they bought their food. The clerk there was very nice and his name was Mr. Kim. He told Unhei how beautiful her name is and reminded her that it means Grace. That night Unhei looked in the mirror and tried to give herself American names but nothing seemed to suit her. The next day in class there was a jar with names on pieces of paper on her desk. The children picked names for Unhei. Joey took special interest in Unhei and asked her if she really didn’t have a name. Unhei showed Joey her name stamp that her grandmother had given her. The name jar continued to fill with more papers every day. When Unhei came home from school she had a letter from her grandmother. That Saturday Unhei went to the market and Mr. Kim the clerk said “Hello Unhei” and Joey, Unhei’s classmate noticed and pronounced her name correctly after practice. The next day the name jar was gone. It was okay because Unhei was ready to introduce herself. She wanted to stick with her name because it was beautiful and it meant Grace in Korean. Joey showed up at Unhei’s house and showed her that he had the name jar. He was embarrassed because he wanted her to keep her true name and she did. Joey had showed Unhei his very own special stamp which Mr. Kim had helped him create-it was the Korean word for friend.