Watch the book trailer for Almost American Girl.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ha, Robin. ALMOST AMERICAN GIRL:  AN ILLUSTRATED MEMOIR.  New York: Balzer + Bray, 2020. ISBN: 9780062685117.

PLOT SUMMARY:  Chuna lives in Seoul, Korea with her mother.  She shares memories of how her childhood has been being an only child with a single mom in Korea.  One day, her mom takes her on vacation to Huntsville, Alabama.  Chuna believes it’s just a trip to America which excites her.  When Chuna realizes that the stay is permanent because her mom has decided to get married, she is devasted.  She was unable to say bye to her friends and gather her belongings.  From one day to another, Chuna’s life has changed dramatically.  One of the big changes is having to change her name so she can “blend in” at school.  She decides to change her name to Robin.  She starts school where she struggles with understanding because of her limited English, being bullied by her classmates, she seems not to be able to get along well with her new stepfamily and is very resentful with her mother for having made such a big decision without taking her into consideration.  One day, to make Robin feel better, her mother enrolls her in a comic drawing class.  At first, Robin is unsure about the class, but she meets Jessica who then becomes her very good friend.  This new friendship helps Robin feel like she has never before since she arrived in the United States.  She has somebody that she can related with her comic drawing and they become very close friends.  Robin and her mother end up moving to Virginia where Robin is taken by surprise when she starts high school and see how diverse the school is.  She does not feel out of place compared to her middle school in Alabama where she was the only foreign student.  In 2002, Robin returns to Korea to visit and even in her homeland she feels like she does not fit in.  She comes into terms that she has become American Korean and is ok with that. 

ANALYSIS:  Robin is like any other teenage girl that enjoys hanging out with her friends and doing what she likes in this case reading comics and drawing.  Through different events she has gone through, she has known that her life situation in Korea is different from her classmates and friends because her parents are not together.  She knows her mom has worked hard to provide her with the best opportunities possible.  Understandably, Robin feels very upset with her mom because she feels her mom has made a big decision of moving them to the United States without taking her into consideration.  As she tries to navigate life in a new city and school, she feels lonely and feels like she will never be able to succeed in anything she does.  Finding her friend Jessica gives her a glimpse of hope.  When she moves to Virginia with her mom, she makes friends faster and easier since the students there have similar experiences to hers and even gets to hang out with students who are Korean.

SETTING: The memoir starts off in Seoul, Korea where Robin shares how different life is from the United States.  Many times, her mother as well as Robin were judged because Robin’s father was not around.  Even though it is not common for Korean women to work, Robin’s mother was very successful in her hair salon business and Robin did well in school.  Once in Alabama, Robin feels out of place with her new family and at school.  Things are very different from Korean starting off with her new family. She is unable to connect with them because they speak mostly English, and the younger cousins do not speak Korean.  At school she is bullied because of her accent and her looks.  In Virginia because of the diverse population, Robin makes friends quicker and enjoys her years in high school more compared to middle school because she fits in. 

ILLUSTRATION ANALYSIS:  Soft colors are used throughout most of the book.  The illustrations that focus on memories from Korea were done in sepia colors which helps the reader identify past from present.  

THEME:  A couple of themes covered in this book are immigration and identify.  Through her journey to the United States the reader sees how difficult it was for Robin to acclimate to the ways in the United States especially when she didn’t know English very well.  Her struggles as an immigrant are evident as she struggles in school and even with her new family as they did not speak Korean and were Americanized from their behavior to the foods they ate.   

CULTURAL MARKERS: 

Is the item high quality overall, independent of its multicultural characteristics?

This memoir is very relatable to the many young adults who have immigrated to the United States.  As a young adult it is probably harder to adjust to a big change like this one because of the many relationships they have formed and having to form new relationships in a place that is very different from their country.  As stated by Robin in her acknowledgement that she wrote this book for people who might be experiencing isolation and depression like she did when she moved to Alabama. 

Authenticity in description of the diversity within the book:

Robin helps the reader understand how life is in Korea by sharing many beliefs and the way of life in Korea.  When Chun moves to Alabama, to better fit in, she changes her name to Robin.  Different comparisons between Korea and America are presented such as: Korean children do not disrespect adults; in Korea single mothers are portrayed in the media as evil mistresses or helpless victims; single mothers are disowned by their families; and it is accustomed to register a child under the father’s family.  There is a glossary provided for Korean words in the book. 

Author qualifications to write relating to the culture:  Through her memoir, Robin shares firsthand life experiences of being born and living in Korea until she was fourteen years old then the culture shock she went when she immigrated to the United States.  As an adult, when Robin returns to Korea, she comes in terms as to why her mother decided to move from Korea and start a new life in the United States. 

CONNECTIONS:  

Students will respond to the following discussion questions: 

How does “Almost American Girl” compare to other “immigrant experience” novels that you have read?

What did you think of the artwork in this book? Was there anything in particular that stood out to you?

How did you react to Robin’s mother’s parts of this book? Did you feel like you understood the choices that she made?

How did you find Robin’s stepfamily and the way that they treated her and her mother?

Do you think that today Robin would have had the same experience when coming to a completely new culture and country? Why or why not?

How did you feel about where she ended the story in terms of where she was in her life at the time? Did that seem like a good way to wrap the story up?

Questions retrieved from: https://thelibraryladies.com/2020/03/16/bookclub-review-almost-american-girl/