A Step of Heaven written by An Na

At first I was incredibly confused by the way it started. I was worried that I would not understand anything that was going on with all of the different Korean words and the dialogue was very disorientating. After the second chapter however, I began to understand what was going on and actually enjoyed it. The book’s content had some pretty heavy material about physical abuse and cultural barriers that I would not recommend for students under that age of ten. Even those 5^th grade thought 8^th should have some help handling the material.

The book itself masterfully captures the perspective of little Young Ju as she travels from Korea at a young age and deals with the consequences of an abusive father. The characters themselves are deep and mysterious. Each chapter reveals a little more insight.  An Na writes through detail of how to show but not tell her readers what her character are thinking. This adds even more depth to each character as there can be multiple guesses for what they really feel.

Na does a great job depicting the viewpoint from a young immigrant child. The beginning of the book is chopping in description because Young Ju doesn’t understand exactly what is going on. She thinks the Mi Gook (America) is heaven and that the flying bus (airplane) will take her there. This not only gives the character a specific voice that Na develops as she ages but also gives the reader insight as to what a small child might be thinking. When she arrives in America, Na does a great job of showing the language barrier. From Young Ju’s perspective the reader experiences English completely garbled just as an immigrant child, “Ah ri cas, ca mo ve he.” You can almost hear the teacher addressing the class as she introduces Young Ju to the class. This book was great to read for the educator as well. It gave certain insights that I might not have thought about such as what immigrant children experience in a classroom.

The story is not all about migrating to America and a young lady growing up in a Korean American home. It is also about a desperate mother striving to make a good life for her children, an abusive father, a family struggling in poverty. The inside view of how a family that struggles with physical abuse may live under the assumption that there is no better alternative is devastating. There are several moments where Young Ju wonders why her parents do not tease like Amanda her American friend’s parents do. She believes that the difference is culture but never thinks that physical abuse is something unique. She has grown up with it all her life and it take years for her to realize that it is wrong and to get the courage to do something about it.

As teacher this book would be great to read personally to gain perspective on the life of children experiencing similar circumstances. It also is a great book to read to a class. This would be something that would bring up heavy issues and deep classroom discussions. Why did Young Ju think it was normal for her father to beat her uhmma (mother)? Why didn’t she get new shoes? Are there people who are living like this in America right now? What can we do to help? There are hundreds of questions that this book brings up for students. As a teacher you just have to decide what you would like to discuss. I completely recommend this book for teachers, however, due to the content I only recommend it for older grades.

Published: 2001

2002 Michael L. Printz Award