Homeschool Reading · Literature

The Name Jar

Name: The Name Jar
Author: Yangsook Choi

by Yangsook Choi · a homeschool reading guide

Best for: Grades 2–3 (read-aloud from kindergarten)
Reading level: 400L Lexile® measure
Subject: Literature (picture book · contemporary)
On Chalky: 14 modules with personalized comprehension questions

Use this book for

Literature (core): A complete character arc — a girl decides who she will be — in picture-book length, with a quiet, satisfying resolution that rewards careful reading.
Reading skills (core): Comprehension across all six grade-2 skills, with point of view doing real work: Unhei's classmates mean well and still get it wrong, and the reader sees both sides.
Character & discussion (tie-in): Would you change your name to fit in? The question lands for every child who has ever been new anywhere — a school, a team, a town.
History & geography (tie-in): Unhei's name stamp and her grandmother's letter open a small, honest window on Korea — find it on the map, learn what the name means, carve your own stamp.

The book

Unhei has just moved from Korea, and when the kids on the bus can't say her name, she decides to choose a new American one — so her classmates fill a jar with suggestions, while her real name waits to be spoken.

Published in 2001, The Name Jar earns its place on the grade 2 shelf by taking a small thing — a name — and letting it carry everything a move to a new country means. Choi tells the story without a villain: the classmates are kind, the mistake is honest, and the resolution belongs to Unhei alone. For a child who has been the new one, it's a mirror; for everyone else, it's the clearest lesson available in how it feels.

Why homeschoolers reach for it

Identity from the inside. The story stays in Unhei's hands — nobody rescues her. Agency like that is rarer in picture books than it should be.
Point of view that matters. Her classmates think the jar is helping. The reader knows more than they do — dramatic irony, at seven.
A name is a story. What a name means, who gave it, what it costs to trade it. Most children have never been asked; all of them have an answer.
A window without a lecture. The Korean details — the stamp, the letter, the meaning of Unhei — arrive as story, not as a unit on culture. That's how windows should open.

Reading skills it builds

On Chalky, every module ends with comprehension questions written from the book's own text, each exercising a specific skill aligned to the Common Core reading standards for grade 2.

Evidence-based analysis (CCSS RL.2.1): Why does Unhei hesitate at the jar? The pages before tell you
Theme & objective summary (CCSS RL.2.2): What the story says about names and belonging, said plainly
Narrative element analysis (CCSS RL.2.3): Unhei on the bus, at the jar, and at the stamp — one arc
Vocabulary & word impact (CCSS RL.2.4): What 'Unhei' means — and why that changes the whole story
Text structure & development (CCSS RL.2.5): The jar fills, then empties — how the middle sets up the end
Point of view & perspective (CCSS RL.2.6): The classmates think they're helping; Unhei knows better

If your state asks you to document reading instruction, this is the record: which book, which skills, which standard each aligns with, kept automatically as your child reads.

Running it as a unit

In Chalky's grade 2 reading plan, The Name Jar runs fourteen modules — about two weeks at 20 minutes a day, open-and-go: the modules are already sequenced, so there is nothing to plan the night before. A rhythm, not a rulebook:

Week 1 — read and track the jar. One or two modules a day. Keep a list of the suggested names and what Unhei does with each — the jar is the story's clock.
Week 2 — names in your house. Every name at your table has a story: who chose it, what it means, who else carried it. Collect them — that's narration about your own family.
Close — the choice. Why does Unhei choose as she does? And what would your child have done on that bus? That conversation is yours; Chalky's questions cover the rest.

Pairs well with

Because of Winn-Dixie — 520L · finding your place, a size up
The Velveteen Rabbit & Other Stories — 400L · becoming who you are
Beezus and Ramona — 500L · family, the comic register

Start your reading comprehension curriculum on Chalky

Standards references describe alignment with the Common Core State Standards for Reading, grade 2; homeschool requirements vary by state, and this page is a record of instruction, not legal advice.