Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood

The novel Lost Names, by Richard E. Kim is classified as a biography, although the author himself notes at the end of the book that it is neither a work of fiction or non-fiction, but merely a blending of real people and real stories. The 40th edition of the book begins with a preface, a speech the author gave in Switzerland in 1987. In this speech, the author discussed the trials of becoming a Korean writer and the challenges of coming to terms with one’s past. The novel then unfolds with a scene on a train from Korea to Manchuria, when the narrator of the novel is just a baby, telling the story from an omniscient point of view. It is at this time we learn about the determination of the baby’s parents—how his father is a strong Korean influence politically against the Japanese, and how his mother staunchly supports the father and refuses to collapse with fear. The strength of the boy’s parents in the opening chapter sets the tone for the entire novel. The novel’s seven chapters cover seven poignant moments throughout this boy’s life and the Japanese occupation of Korea—the family’s crossing into Manchuria from Korea by crossing the frozen Tuman river, their return to Korea, the boy’s experiences attending a Japanese school in Korea, the loss of the Korean family names and the sorrow incurred as a result, the politics of collecting rubber for the Japanese war effort, and finally, Japan’s surrender to the Americans in 1945.
As a middle school teacher, I feel this novel is better suited for high school students but I think it can be successfully used in the middle school classroom with careful planning and thoughtful discussions to help the students understand the narrator’s perspective. There are several scenes in the novel that deal with death and are violent, and those will need to be dealt with sensitively at the middle school level. I would use this book in my classroom as a novel to be read and discussed by the entire Language Arts class, or, preferably, as one of the selections students could choose to read when we engage in “book clubs”. Select excerpts of the novel could also be read aloud to students and used to facilitate powerful class discussions and writing prompts. Regardless of the format in which the novel is read, there are several parts of the book that I found to be of value for analysis, discussion, and reflection both orally and in writing.
In the first chapter, on p. 20 and 21, the boy and his mother have a discussion about “crossing the river” and how it was rife with challenges. In their discussion, it becomes obvious that while the family literally crossed the river at one point, it is a metaphor for other struggles the family has endured. Students could respond to this metaphor in a Socratic seminar, address it in journal writing, or in a personal narrative. At the end of chapter two, there are two deaths that occur in different ways—one, the accidental drowning of the narrator’s classmate, and the other, the Russian murder of the narrator’s former Korean teacher. Depending on the maturity of the students, the circumstances surrounding these tragic events could be compared and contrasted, or the “why?” aspect of each situation discussed. Many of our students have lost loved ones in tragic ways and thus this topic must be broached with sensitivity.
Throughout the book, the narrator sometimes flashes forward with the information he presents. For example, he will share a memory in which he was left wondering what would happen. Before his story is finished, he will “flash forward” and tell the reader what ultimately happens. For example, in chapter three, the narrator quotes his teacher as saying, “Sometimes I don’t know what’s going on in the world.” Then, in the next paragraph, the narrator says, “A week later…” and proceeds to explain Germany’s invasion of Poland and other events going on in the world at the time--after this paragraph, the narrator goes back to his regular story telling. I’d like to use this excerpt from the text with students in their personal narrative writing. Students can think of a moment in their lives when they pondered the outcome of a situation, flash forward to the actual result, and then complete their story. This is a technique that will take practice for middle school students to master, but it blends many different writing elements, such as voice, tone, and composition into one task.
The fourth chapter, titled “Lost Names” covers the profound feelings of shame and loss the Koreans endured when giving up their Korean family names for Japanese names. The entire chapter unfolds in the midst of a huge blizzard. Students can draw literary correlations between the weather in the chapter and the situation the Koreans faced—bitterly cold, both literally and figuratively. This is a chapter all students need to read and ponder. For middle school students, the concept of losing a name may not matter so much to them, just as it doesn’t seem to concern the narrator himself as a young boy. In the chapter he is distressed due to the circumstances, but doesn’t seem to lament the loss of his name; rather he wonders why everyone is so upset when there is nothing that can be done to fix it. What could be done in a situation like this? What would have happened if the Koreans hadn’t changed their names? Why did the Koreans feel so ashamed? There are a multitude of questions that arise from this chapter to be addressed via Socratic seminar, general class discussion, or journal writing.
In chapter six, particularly on p.148, we see examples of Japanese that are serving their roles in Korea with a conscience; almost as if they knew what was happening in Korea was wrong. We also see the Japanese begin to fear the Koreans; the Japanese know that once Japan is defeated, they will be treated horribly by the Koreans and may not make it out of the country and back to Japan alive. What must that be like? Did any of these Japanese feel guilty? Did they know they were wrong and just didn’t know what to do to make it right? Again, students will have the opportunity to respond to these prompts in a variety of ways.
Finally, in chapter seven, the liberation of Korea and the defeat of Japan by America is discussed. I had very strong feelings with this last chapter—pride that the Americans were able to free the Koreans and so many others from oppression, tears of joy for the Koreans, and also sadness for the Japanese who were now in fear for their own lives. On p. 163, the narrator is so overcome with vengeance and fear about the whereabouts of his father, he is in a rage, shouting about killing the Japanese. I had to wonder—would it be worth it? Does vengeance truly satisfy? The narrator’s father certainly doesn’t think so. Students can thoughtfully discuss and write essays in response to this question.
The ending of this novel also lends itself to considering current events—to this day, there is some level of animosity between South Korea and Japan. How could this ever be healed? How does a country heal itself from 36 years of oppression? I myself am not even 36 years old, and to measure that amount of time seems foreign to me. I wonder if middle school students have the capacity to imagine what so many years of challenges and hope can be like.
Whether students read this novel in its entirety or if they read and analyze specific excerpts, the powerful message within will be received. It is difficult to digest the horrible war crimes of the past and to try and learn from them for the future. However, it would be an injustice to ignore these events or sweep them under the rug. Students learn about the Holocaust, but very little is shared in school curricula about the oppression of other groups. It is important to understand how imperialist forces and dictatorships have influenced nearly every region of the world—and to understand that even our own country, the United States, was born from imperialism. The United States was born from a revolution, but why was Korea so susceptible to control and domination? Where is the line drawn between right and wrong? Every country must bear some burden of mistakes made in its past—for example, the United States has worked to atone for the existence of slavery, Germany has worked to atone for the Holocaust. One has to wonder, what does it feel like to be on the other side? What does it feel like to heal after such destruction has been caused? On the last page of the novel, the narrator’s father says to him, “It is your world now.” It is my hope that by reading this book, future generations will learn about the mistakes of the past and use this knowledge to create a better world for all of us.
Reference
Kim, R. E. (1998). Lost names. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Lost Names by Richard Kim is an account of life in Korea during the Japanese occupation leading up to and including World War II. While the author lived through this period, his first person narrative is a composite sketch of the Korean experience. We jump from one episode to another, building up a childhood experience as a member of an oppressed people. With each episode, we see the characters lose a little more of their identity as their ancient culture is pushed aside in the interest of the perceived superiority of the Japanese. It doesn’t all happen at once. And that is where I found the beauty of the book. In the beginning, the occupying forces do not live up to the American propaganda that I’ve heard in studying the Axis powers. They appear respectful of the Korean people. Each new episode brings a small change to the status quo: no Korean history taught in school, no Korean language in the streets, exchanging Korean family names for Japanese ones (the namesake episode of Lost Names), to finally the more brutal conscription of labor to the increasingly desperate Japanese cause.
Lost Names is written in a style that may not be to the liking of some readers. I struggled a bit with the stilted and simplistic sentence structures used by Kim. It was written in a way I would expect from an English language learner. I can understand this approach since the main character is a child, but I personally felt that it detracted some from the effectiveness of the book and made the narrator feel distant.
That being said, Lost Names is a valuable classroom resource. I used this with a less than academically minded twelfth grade English class. Because of its episodic nature, I was able to pick and choose what would work in my class. I used this text to reinforce students’ skills in identifying various literary elements. The stories themselves demand reflection on the rights we deserve as humans and cause students to ponder the basics of who they are as citizens. There is lots of room for reflective writing and journaling inspired by Lost Names. My students had also previously studied propaganda techniques and in this book, we have a real live example of the dangers of propaganda.
As a study of history, there are parallels to the American treatment of Native Americans and the US government’s attempt to westernize them. This is also a good Eastern example of the process of colonization and can enrich and draw comparisons to what students already know about how the European powers colonized different parts of the world. Many American students know nothing about Korea aside from a cursory overview of the Korean Conflict while studying the Cold War. Through this manageable, episodic work, they can increase that knowledge ten-fold.

Book Review: Richard M. Kim’s Lost Names – Scenes From a Korean Boyhood
A wonderfully captivating tale of occupation and liberation, Richard Kim’s Lost Names should be included in every secondary school’s East Asia curriculum. First published in 1970, Kim’s collection of seven short stories from Japanese-occupied Korea is neither historical fiction nor a memoir, but something in-between. Lost Names does not tell the experiences of the author, but the experiences of a nation from 1932 – 1945 as seen by the eyes, and retold in the voice, of a Korean boy.
The title Lost Names comes from events of one of the seven stories in the collection. As part of Japan’s domination of the Korean peninsula, every Korean family had to adopt an official Japanese name. This practice was part of an overall imperialist agenda to supplant Korean culture with Japanese culture. The policy also included Japanese school curricula, state-promoted Shinto, and the closing of the Korean-language press. Kim explores the disgrace felt by Koreans in dishonoring their family names, and describes a scene of tearful prayers begging the ancestors’ forgiveness at the local cemetery. However, Kim also tells of defiant Koreans wearing their best traditional dress, and remaining outwardly stoical, when reporting to the police station to register their new names. In the case of the narrator’s family, even the chosen name, Iwamoto, was a subtle act of defiance. Iwamoto means ‘stone base’ in Japanese, and is not an uncommon surname. As the narrator’s family is Christian, the choice of a name symbolic of Matthew 16:18, “… upon this rock I will build my church”, is a subtle act of rebellion against the anti-Western Japanese Empire.
This book is not history per se, but rather an impression of history that provides emotional context for studying a chapter in the story of Korea. Lost Names is appropriate for students as early as middle school, but certainly would not be out of place on a university syllabus. Younger students will relate to descriptions of universal childhood experiences: squabbles with siblings, doting grandparents, caring teachers, temperamental teachers, playing with friends, and the frustration of being told, “You will understand when you are older.” For high school students, the importance of Confucian values in Korean culture is well described throughout the seven stories. Older students will be able to trace the collapse of the Japanese empire as economic conditions slowly worsen, the Japanese increasingly exude a sense of desperation, and the inevitable moment comes when the war’s conclusion is admitted with the emperor’s voice coming through the family radio.
A story of survival more than resistance, Lost Names is a different sort of war story than most students will have read. It is a tale of patience, family bonds, and of pride in one’s own culture. I highly recommend teaching Richard Kim’s Lost Names as part of any course on East Asia. A short read, with vocabulary appropriate for secondary students, this book puts a human face on the Second World War. The book is not unlike Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl in its ability to connect the reader to the impact war and occupation have upon families – especially children.

Review by Michael Tobias
. I am an English instructor at South Park High School and teach grades 9, 10, and 12. The following is a review of the novel Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood by Richard E. Kim (1998)
This novel is told from the perspective of an adult narrator who is retells (relives) his experiences as a young boy during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The narrator describes, with vivid detail, how the intruding Japanese overturn the culture of the Koreans and force them to adopt an entirely new set of social norms.
One of the major strengths about this novel is the Kim’s mastery of voice. When one reads this book, he/she gets a genuine feel of the narrator as a young, innocent boy. In many cases, Kim strikes a perfect balance between speaking as a young child with limited awareness while mixing in a few revealing details from his “adult” self. Furthermore, the narrator’s speech is often simple and straightforward. Students who struggle with reading may find this style of narration easier to understand and refreshing. At various moments throughout the book, Kim incorporates elements of suffering, compassion, and humor, which all add to the overall enjoyment and intrigue of the book. The young protagonist thinks, feels, and acts, as we all did in our youth. In this respect, readers become deeply attached to the character, his life, and his overall message.
This story also provides its readers with a new perspective on history. Many Americans have a rather ethnocentric view of world history and do not consider how the conditions surrounding World War II affected other nations and their respective cultures. Lost Names breaks through this shroud; it not only provides readers with an understanding of the Korean culture, but it also gives them a way to empathize with the Korean people as a whole. Throughout the course of the book, many characters, Korean and Japanese alike, express emotions of shame, confusion, resentment, and even pure anger, over the fact that the occupation is creating such hardship for all parties involved.
Occasionally, higher vocabulary and profanity could cause some roadblocks for use in the classroom. However, I believe that both allow for authentic learning opportunities. Instructors could present some of the vocabulary words for study. The profanity, whenever it is encountered, can be related to the pure turmoil faced by the characters. In other words, the language shows how hurt the Korean people are by the assault on their culture.
Lastly, Kim provides an accurate portrayal of many aspects of the Korean culture. For example, when the characters are required to register their new “Japanese” names, the reader learns first-hand how much tradition, heritage, and ancestry mean to the Korean people. Other elements of culture presented in the novel include the nature of the relationship between father and son, elders to youths, and teacher to student. Korean values of honor, respect, and friendship are also presented. Finally, one can see the importance of political power in the Eastern world simply by perusing this book.
Lost Names is a fantastic resource for many reasons. It is a very well-written novel and quite entertaining in its own right. Fortunately, it also provides educators with a wealth of classroom application in areas of literature, philosophy, history, and even sociology and psychology. The best recommendation that I can give is for you to pick up a copy of the book and read it for yourself. It is my belief that even if you decide that you are unable to use this book within your classroom, you will still have learned something new about the Korean culture.

Tim Jekel
High School History
World History I & II, Western Civilization, AP US History, AP European History
West Shore Christian Academy
What do you have that is most valuable? What do you have that cannot be replaced if lost? While there are many acceptable answers to this question, Richard Kim in his novel Lost Names considers what it would be like to lose your identity – not by accident or amnesia, but by willingly complying with those who would dominate you by rewriting your identity. Identity is symbolized by one’s name.
The Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1905-45 has left many bitter memories. I have many Korean students today who still harbor animosity toward the nation that ruled them for 40 years. Richard Kim uses experiences from his own childhood to construct a semi-autobiographical novel about the episode of the occupation that is for many the most difficult to come to terms with.
Kim’s main character has an identity that is passed from his parents to him. For example, the Kim family is Christian. Kim’s father marched for independence as part of the March 1st Independence Struggle. Kim’s family is wealthy. The Japanese respect wealth, but despise both his role in the independence movement and his Christian faith.
During the 1930’s when most of this novel is set, the Japanese were attempting to cultural synthesize the Korean people by forcing them to speak the Japanese language, take on Japanese names, and worship the Emperor and at the Shinto shrines. It is precisely this attack on Korean identity that is most difficult for the Koreans to forgive or accept. Kim addresses different aspects of this period in story form – highly the impact of these policies on ordinary families and people.
A poignant scene near the beginning of the novel shows the young Kim in a new classroom. His introduction to Korean school came with a request to sing a song. Caught off guard, and unfamiliar with the cultural oppression, he selects O Danny Boy which he sings in English! Young Kim had been at a missionary school. For this outrage, he is severely punished.
Other episodes recount the experience of registering ones names at the Shinto shrine, performing a play in honor of the Japanese Emperor’s birthday, and returning gift rubber balls to the school because the Japanese need rubber for the war effort. In each of these events, Kim crafts his storytelling to artfully address the toll the occupation plays. Young Kim himself is sensitive as his doesn’t want his mother to pack white rice for school because his emphasizes his wealth over the other kids. He doesn’t want shiny new skates. He just wants to be one of the guys.
The most dramatic events of the story follow Kim’s father as he reports to the local police station to declare his new Japanese name. A long line of Koreans from the same town at the same station was an exercise in group shame. Later, the shame is showcased as the family visits the family burial grounds and weep to the ancestors begging for exoneration for the sacrilege of surrendering the family name without a fight. The author’s use of a raging snowstorm during this event highlights the intense emotion.
Kim’s work is an artistic achievement, and not merely an historical memoir. Indeed, Kim explains that the contents of the book are a combination of his own experience and skilled storytelling. One of his most clever devices is that no Korean character in the entire story is identified with their real Korean name. One young friend is nicknamed ‘Pumpkin’ due to his plumpness. Other characters are identified by their relationship to Kim. For example, one of his teachers is simply ‘The Korean Teacher’. His sister is always ‘Sister’. His father’s true name is never revealed, but the new Japanese name is identified. The only reason we know to call the main character ‘Kim’ is that the story is roughly autobiographical.
I find this book highly useful in the classroom. My 9th graders read this book every year and they both enjoy it and learn from it. The story serves as a stimulant to conversation and discussion about the current relationship between Japanese and Koreans. It also serves to illustrate the techniques the Japanese used in an attempt to colonize, annex, and integrate conquered peoples. I use reading quizzes for each chapter to create accountability and make the discussion more interesting. The book also lends itself to written response and expression. I believe it would be appropriate material for an international or Asian literature class. The reading level is appropriate for any high school curriculum.

Richard Kim has given us an insightful look into the lives of the Korean people at the hands of the Japanese during their occupation from 1935-1942. Like the internment camps on U.S. soil during WWII, the distasteful details of history are often overlooked, and, with time, more easily forgotten. "Lost Names" isn’t a gentle reminder, but an in-your-face style memoir of Korean life. Interwoven within the tales of a young boy the author provides glimpses of the political struggles between the villagers and their Japanese invaders, discreet acts of espionage as the Koreans work to subvert the Japanese war effort and quiet acts of civil disobedience that declare loudly ‘We are Korean, and we shall not perish.’
“Lost Names” is a provocative and enlightening tome that should be required reading at the high school level alongside “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the entire collection of short stories from Edgar Allen Poe.

Lost Names is a fascinating tale of a young boy growing up during the time of Japanese occupation of Korea. It is a tale of childhood antics, heartbreak, and a coming of age in a time of great turmoil. It pulls the reader in quickly and forces her/him to ask questions.
As someone who has a strong background in European History but very little understanding of Asian History, I was intrigued by Lost Names when it was described to me. As I began reading, I found that I was captivated by the storyline and history of the region. Without giving too much away, the story opens with the main character, who is never identified with proper name, as a baby heading to Manchuria with his parents. As the story progresses we see the return of the family to Korea to help with the family orchard where the main character becomes involved with a number of events through his childhood. As he grows and the timeline progresses, the young adolescent is moved out of his environment, only to return in the end with the surrender of Japan during World War II. The reader is left with a feeling of closure in one stage of the main character’s life, but an understanding that there is so much more to come.
The story, although meant to be read in its entirety, could be spliced to use specific chapters with content covered within a classroom. It is a book I would recommend for Middle School or High School. It is an easy read that is compelling beginning to end.
Presently I am using this work with my Contemporary Affairs students to introduce them to a history of Korea prior to its division. They are reading it as we complete our introduction on foreign policy, which leads us into a look at key countries and US policy in dealing with these countries…one of those being North Korea. It is my hope to show North Korea in a slightly different format than its appearance in the media today. We will use it to springboard into the questions that I held at the end of the reading… “What happened in the next chapter of this young man’s life?” I also plan to use this book with my freshmen next year as we study World History in a truly global perspective, not a Eurocentric perspective.
So, one question still remains that has left me to reflect for 2 weeks before writing this review: Is Lost Names fact or fiction? I believed from the onset that this was an autobiography. The description and attention to detail is so precise and riveting that one can feel events and find that she too is cheering with the successes, shocked by the prejudices and matures with the main character throughout the story. At times, the events are described so vividly and the drama is so astonishing that it forces the reader to pause and realize that the author had to have had personal, first-hand knowledge of the occurrence. However, in the afterword, Richard Kim writes that it is a fiction. Therefore, I have finally settled on calling it a fabulously written historical fiction that is rooted more in reality than fiction.
I highly recommend that teachers and students read this work. It is an eye-opening story that leaves this reader appreciative of her own personal experiences but with a sense of inquiry to investigate more into Korea. It is worth the investment of your time and resources.

Review by Tammy Betsock
This book would be great for a Social Studies class or Language Arts. Lost Names is a book I would recommend for middle to high school age students. I think elementary students would have a hard time comprehending the reading. In addition, some of the vocabulary may be hard for them to comprehend. Even though this is a fictional story, it does reflect the appropriate time period and different customs of the country. The book accurately relates the historical events and lives of people living through the war. Since the story is told by a child coming of age, I feel students will have an easier time relating to the story. I would recommend this book as a read aloud or group reading for 6th and 7th graders. High school students should be able to read the book easily and comprehend the symbolism. High school students should be able to compare the boy in the book as being wealthier than most of his classmates. They should be able to make that comparison to their own lives and having classmates with more and less money than themselves. They should be able to understand the hardships caused by war.

The fictionalized memoir is told from the point of view of a young boy in a family that is impacted by the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II. This point of view is appealing to young adult readers, making history come to life. The story is well-told with lots of dramatic moments in a lyrical fashion. The story is also one of courage and perserverance that is quite poignant when told from the boy's point of view.

Richard Kim's Lost Names is a treasure trove of historical and culture gems. While he denies that his story is autobiographical it seems to this writer that it is more so than not. For those who are not familiar with the history of Korea especially in the 20th century Kim's book can be the beginning of an educational journey. From 1912 until 1945 the Japanese occupied Korea. At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, (the setting for Adolf Hitler who left the stadium before he had to shake hands with Jesse Owen,) Korean athletes were forced to participate under Japanese names.
With this in mind it is evident that Kim's account of life in occupied Korean details the oppression of the Japanese and how the Koreans were able to retain their sense of Koreaness while complying with the demands of their overlords.
The middle school aged hero (who my students who are sophomores related to readily) is the leader of his class in his Japanese dominated school. Children were treated as if they were Japanese. At home they were basically not allowed to forget that they were Korean. The reader catches glimpses of this most Confucian of Asian countries along with the pervasive influence of Christianity. There is the great respect shown to the father. A really touching scene has to do with the visit to the cemetery where the grandfather is in tears lamenting to the deceased how the living generation has failed them.
This writer's daughter could gain much even now as a thirty something, (adopted at age 5+ from the Hermit Kingdom,) from reading this book. Virtually enslaved by the Japanese, forced to accept new Japanese names and humiliated in a variety of ways my daughter would gain some important insights into this rugged land and its people during a difficult time. Kim's family is depicted as a family which is highly respected and looked up to. The son is a beneficiary of this status.
Near the end the hero recently freed from his obligation at a Japanese school/work camp is involved in liberating his town side by side with his father who is the leader of the effort. Successful negotiation with the Japanese police allows for a peaceful transition from Japanese domination. Later he sees the Japanese solider, who approved his pass to go home with his mother, working in a labor gang supervised by Russian soldiers who are occupying Korea north of the 38th parallel. Mention of the soldiers conjures up images of Kim Il Sung and the Russian sponsorship of the invasion of the south and the beginning of the Korean War in Which Richard Kim fought
Kim's story is centered in North Korea not far from Pyongyang the current capital of the rogue North Korean regime of Kim Jong Il heir of his father Kim Il Sung. So much can be gained from this book. With many points of departure there is much to learn more in depth about Korea. This is a gem, one of many facets. Read it and enjoy a great story with connections to much of the modern history of Korean and of the relations between the U.S. and Korea and the Cold War. The Cold War is alive and well in Korea separated by the demilitarized Zone along the 38th parallel.
I was really fortunate to check out a curriculum in print entitled Korea: Lessons for Elementary School (Korean Studies Council International, 2000) While quite elementary in nature these materials were very helpful preparing the students for reading the book Lost Names. There are chapters that include geography, cultural customs, and symbols as history, arts and storytelling. It was especially helpful to have the behaviors that would be considered taboo in Korea such as eating ice cream while walking down the street, etc.
The chapter entitled “Losing important things” can serve as a backdrop to reading Lost Names. A fictitious person, a young man much like Richard Kim, loses his name and is given a Japanese name. This is only one loss that the students are apprised of. They, of course, lose their country, sometimes their families, to the Japanese militarists for almost 50 years.
There are five important Korean symbols that we reviewed. These included (which we could compare to the United States) The Turtle Ship(s), The observatory built in 647 in the ancient Silla capital, Kyongju named Chomsongdae, the Korean flag, and one of the most famous buildings in Korea a temple called Popchusa built in 553 containing the largest statue of Buddha in Korea. Finally, there is Tiger symbol is important and featured in folktales and is considered a messenger of the mountain deities as well as a helpful friend of the people. The tiger was also a symbol of the 1988 Olympics in Korea.
All this to say how a curriculum designed for elementary students could also be utilized for sophomores in High School without being condescending.
I will end by saying that the students really liked this book. This bordered on enthusiasm which is not rare but they compared it to a book assigned them in English class and they positively gushed about this book compared to the one assigned them in the English class. The curriculum about Korea helped to make this project work.