Julia

How many full works of fiction have you completed so far, as part of your independent reading?

• Currently, I am reading a second book. The first book’s title is “Made in Korea,” and the second is “Soul Lantern.” The first one is fiction, and the second one is a nonfiction book. 

 

Which of the works has had the biggest impact on you, and why?

• Personally, the first book I read had the most significant impact. It was about two seniors selling K-beauty products at their school, but they are competitors and enemies. However, through many internal and external conflicts, they fall in love with each other, and the story ends. I am a high schooler, so it feels like this might be something that could happen to seniors (G12). Not only with the storyline, but there are also many notices and new things that I have learned from this book. It isn’t only a simple romance book and talks about parents’ pressure on high expectations and how the two main characters walk through this whole journey. 

“The thing about dreams is that they’re scary. But if you’re not willing to take a risk, you’ll never know what could have been.” said Valerie, one of the main characters in this book

 

Which of the works contained the most creative use of language? What examples can you give?

• The first book, “Made in Korea,” contained the most language use. However, this does not mean that this book uses many languages because I am currently reading “Soul Lantern,” which is based on an actual event of an atomic bomb dropped in Japan. 
• The book is in first person point of view from both Valerie’s and Wes’s sides. Since both of them are Korean-American and the author “Sarah Suk” is also Korean-American, there is a mix of English and Korean phrases. I think this is a creative way to hook the readers because, as a Korean, I feel more related to the background, and it is pretty fun to guess the Korean phrases but spelled in English. This book also has multiple uses of humor tone, but it does not only ends like that. It makes the readers think deeper about identity, family, friendship, or relationships.

 

What most surprised you about your books so far?

• In the first book, the part where it surprised me was that the character Halmeoni (grandmother) in the story was a story of the author itself. On her website, there is a photo of her Halmeoni and explaining of her story. In the book, Valerie relies the most on her Halmeoni because her parents (mostly her mom) always put her in the spot where she gets compared to her bigger sister Samantha. Her mom has high expectations for Valerie and hopes she goes the same path as Samantha, but Valerie does not want to. No other families but Halmeoni is on Valerie’s side. So, Valerie relies the most on her grandmother, and one of her dreams is to take her Halmeoni to Paris.
• In the current book that I am reading, something that surprised me is how a Japanese girl understands the historic and tragic bombing of Hiroshima by interviewing the survivors during this event. This book’s cover looks like a fiction book and is described in a way that seems like this might be realistic fiction. However, through research, I discovered this is a non-fiction genre. The explanations for the bombing of Hiroshima are all true. The author published this book because she wanted to raise awareness about this tragic event and also to provide personal and emotional explanations about this event. The author Shaw Kuzki is a second-generation atomic-bomb survivor, which means that she might know a lot about this event, and this could also mean that the interviews from this book are all based on actual interviews. 

 

If you gave up on a book, why did you do so?

• There are multiple reasons for giving up a book. The first one is the level of the book. When I start reading the first two-three pages, this is the time for me to check whether the words are hard to understand. The second reason is whether the book hooks my interest. I don’t have a favorite genre to read; it depends on whether the story starts creatively. If it does not sound like the book I found, I will choose to change to another book. The third reason is that sometimes, the storyline gets too obvious from the middle of the book, and I know how the story will end. This is mainly for the romance genre, where if the main two characters are enemies, the end of the book will be them falling in love. The book “Made in Korea” belongs to this section. However, the background and the subject seemed calm, so I didn’t choose to give up on that book. 

 

If you haven’t read a work of fiction yet, your next text must be. What will you read next, and why have you chosen it?

• I learned about the book “Ghost Boy” by Jewell Parker Rhodes about police violence and its impact on young black boys. This means gun violence toward black people in America. During our class time about analyzing a cartoon, we studied intensely the cartoon “It’s not about race.” This is related because it is all about police violence, gun violence, racism, and black people in America.