A Step from Heaven (2002 Printz Award Winner) by An Na

Na, An. (2001). A step from heaven. Front Street. Asheville, NC.

 Young Ju is a  Korean born girl and moves to America with her family when she is a young child.  Young Ju thinks that America is Heaven but she soon realize it is not quite everything that she imagined it would be.  As Young Ju is growing up in southern California, she deals with the struggles of making new friends, learning English, having a new little brother and becoming a teenage American with Korean roots and heritage.  During this time the family learns of her grandmother's death. Her father, Apa grows even more abusive with alcohol and physically towards his family.  She is brave enough to call 911 and the police take her father away.  He leaves the family the next day and she never sees him again.  Despite all this Young Ju grows up to be a strong, smart, and appreciative young lady.

 A Step from Heaven is a realistic fiction book, but not a typical coming of age story.  The book is both a Printz Award Winner and an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature recipient.  The APAAL award honors and recognizes individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage based on literary and artistic merit.  I would highly recommend this book to benefit both Literature and World Culture teachers because of its themes of immigrations and acculturation.  It offers a personal story about diversity and the struggles with keeping one's culture and embracing another.  It is a story all young adults should read to help understand other cultures or with helping one to relate to their own personal journey into American culture.