A Step from Heaven
1st Edition
Published on 26. July 2016
160 pages
978-1-4814-4237-4 (ISBN)
Description
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.
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.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
An Na was born in Korea and grew up in San Diego, California. A former middle school English and history teacher, she is the critically acclaimed author of The Fold, Wait for Me, the National Book Award finalist and Printz Award-winning novel A Step from Heaven, and The Place Between Breaths. She lives in Vermont.
Content
- Intro
- Dedication
- A Foreword to 'A Step from Heaven'
- Chapter 1: Sea Bubble
- Chapter 2: All This Weight
- Chapter 3: Only God Can
- Chapter 4: Mi Gook
- Chapter 5: Hair
- Chapter 6: Waiting for Heaven
- Chapter 7: A Step from Heaven
- Chapter 8: My Future
- Chapter 9: Not Forever
- Chapter 10: Park Joon Ho
- Chapter 11: Burying Lies
- Chapter 12: Being Older
- Chapter 13: Disappearing Bubbles
- Chapter 14: The Blob
- Chapter 15: Rainy-Day Surprises
- Chapter 16: Strong Is a Man
- Chapter 17: Harry
- Chapter 18: One Hundred Pennies
- Chapter 19: Making Sure
- Chapter 20: Reaching
- Chapter 21: My Best Is Always Not Enough
- Chapter 22: The Power of Prayer
- Chapter 23: Becoming Too American
- Chapter 24: Punishment
- Chapter 25: Daughter
- Chapter 26: Revealing Forms
- Chapter 27: Patches
- Chapter 28: Disclosure
- Chapter 29: Seeds of Life
- Chapter 30: A Family of Dreamers
- Epilogue: Hands
- Acknowledgments
- About An Na
- Copyright
