Finding My Hat

Author: John Son

An outstanding addition to Scholastic's excellent First Person Fiction series, Finding My Hat tells the story of the Parks, a first generation Korean-American family, during the 1970s and '80s. Told in vignettes from the point of view of the eldest child and only son, the story traces Jin-Han's life from his first memories at the age of two to his mother's death when he is a teenager. Jin-Han and his family move from Chicago to Memphis to Houston as the family struggles to find a permanent home in America. Jin-Han struggles to find his own identity, "His hat," from a mix of Korean traditions, American attitudes, and his own special gifts. This engrossing novel captures the universal aspects of Jin-Han's coming of age, as well as the experiences of an immigrant family adjusting to life in the United States. A valuable feature of the series is an afterword in which the writer describes his or her own experiences of immigrating to the United States. The reading level and subject matter make this book appropriate for seventh through ninth grade and TESOL students. It would work well as reading for social studies and English in studies of culture, immigration, point of view, character development, and style.

Finding My Hat

Year Released: 2003

Grades 7-9