My Name is Yoon. By Helen Recorvits. Illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska. New York: Frances Foster Books, 2003.
Yoon comes from Korea to the United States with her parents. Soon after their arrival, in preparation for her new school, her father shows her how to write her name in English. “I did not like YOON. Lines. Circles. Each standing alone.” At school, the teacher also encourages her to write her name. But instead she writes CAT, preferring to be a cat, a cat that could hide in the corner and cuddle up close to her mother. The next day, Yoon is BIRD, a bird who could fly back to Korea. But that day she also shows her teacher the picture she has drawn of a robin, and gestures to demonstrate the similarity between the robin’s red breast and her own red dress. On the playground, a girl shares a cupcake with Yoon, who becomes CUPCAKE, a cupcake that she imagines her schoolmates would greet with excited delight. When finally she is YOON, her teacher embraces her and calls her by her true name. This book is all about the delicate gestures of friendship: smiling, sharing food, recognizing each other.