As a small girl living in Korea, Young Ju Park leads a relatively carefree life, although she is often aware of the unhappiness of her father, mother, and paternal grandmother. Young’s four-year-old mind reasons that they are all unhappy because her grandfather has gone to live in heaven. When she and her parents board an airplane, she assumes that they are going to join him. Instead, she finds herself in the unfamiliar United States with no grandfather. Worse, Young’s grandmother has stayed in Korea. They have come to America for a better life, Young’s parents tell her. But her parents still seem unhappy — understandably, since they’re living with relatives and working menial jobs. In the years that follow, even the birth of a cherished son and the purchase of a home don’t make things better. Young’s father sinks deeper into alcoholism and depression. For Young, attending school where everyone speaks English and expects her to act like an American girl is challenging enough. But at home she’s expected to uphold Korean cultural values, something that gets harder to do as she grows older. An Na’s stunning first novel depicts Young’s development by showing the complexities of her world, screened through her mind. We see Young, even as a small child, trying to piece events together on an intellectual as well as an emotional level. Her struggle to comprehend her family life leads to a mature understanding of her mother, allowing Young to take some courageous steps into the adult world. (Age 13 and older)

A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)

From master storyteller An Na comes the Printz Award–winning novel about a Korean girl who tells her firsthand account of trying to find her place and identity in America from the day she leaves Korea as a child to her rocky journey through the teenage years.

At age four, Young Ju moves with her parents from Korea to Southern California. She has always imagined America would be like heaven: easy, blissful, and full of riches. But when her family arrives, she finds it to be the opposite. With a stubborn language barrier and cultural dissimilarities, not only is it impossible to make friends, but even her family’s internal bonds are wavering. Her parents’ finances are strained, yet her father’s stomach is full of booze.

As Young Ju’s once solid and reliable family starts tearing apart, her younger brother begins to gain more freedom and respect simply because of his gender. Young Ju begins to lose all hope in the dream she once held—the heaven she longs for. Even as she begins to finally fit in, a cataclysmic family event will change her idea of heaven forever. But it also helps her to recognize the strength she holds, and envision the future she desires, and deserves.