My Name Is Yoon

Written by Helen Recorvits and Gabi Swiatkowska

A girl navigates identity and belonging in a new country through the power of names.

4.2 Goodreads · 3,032 ratings

29 pages· 891 words· Est. 7 min read-aloud· 480L

$18.99Save 5%

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Bookroo's summary

Yoon, a young girl from Korea, struggles to adapt to her new life in the United States. Her name, which means Shining Wisdom, feels different when written in English, just like how she feels in her new surroundings. At school, she experiments with new names like Cat, Bird, and Cupcake, searching for a sense of belonging. Will Yoon find her place and embrace her true identity in this unfamiliar world? Discover her journey of self-discovery and cultural adaptation in a story filled with hope and imagination.

From the publisher

Getting to feel at home in a new country

Yoon’s name means Shining Wisdom, and when she writes it in Korean, it looks happy, like dancing figures. But her father tells her that she must learn to write it in English. In English, all the lines and circles stand alone, which is just how Yoon feels in the United States. Yoon isn’t sure that she wants to be YOON. At her new school, she tries out different names – maybe CAT or BIRD. Maybe CUPCAKE!

Helen Recorvits’s spare and inspiring story about a little girl finding her place in a new country is given luminous pictures filled with surprising vistas and dreamscapes by Gabi Swiatkowska.

My Name Is Yoon is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children’s Book of the Year.