When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park depicts the life experience of a family’s
perseverance of the Japanese occupation of Korea as two siblings, Sun-hee,
older brother and Tae-yul, sister struggle to maintain each other’s secret of
their family’s Korean culture and values. Sun-hee and Tae-yul along with their
mother, father, and uncle and all Korean families are stripped of their
identity. Sun-hee and Tae-yul slowly unravel their parents and uncles’ courage
as they witness their lives being taken apart by Japanese soldiers. Having to
change their Korean names to Japanese names and prohibited to speak or write in
their Korean language and engage in their religious ceremonies, or show
patriotism of their homeland, they show their enduring spirit of heroism,
understanding and acceptance of how things are, and the willingness to
sacrifice their life for the betterment of family.
Linda Sue Park demonstrates her craft of writing as she tells the
accounts and point of view of Tae-yul and Sun-hee’s detailed journey of their individual
internal and external conflicts by allowing the reader to be within the moment
of her characters. She shows the tenacious personalities of both Sun-hee and
Tae-yul as they develop into strong individuals even though their world was
turned upside down by the order of the Imperial Emperor of Japan.
Linda Sue Park is indeed a master in her craft because she allows the
reader to witness and feel the emotions of her characters. She exceptional
crafts her writing like that of a point of view format giving each character
the “lime-light” so that readers can easily follow the thoughts, actions, and
motivations behind what they do. With certainty, this is an excellent book to
feature experiences of a war-torn country and how children are majorly affected
as innocent bystanders. It also shows how quickly the characters are ready to
take on a more mature role within their family structure. When My Name Was
Keoko deserve an outstanding score of a 5. Every classroom should have this as
a Literature Circle selection or as an anchor book.
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