Juna's Jar facts for kids
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| Author | Jane Bahk |
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| Illustrator | Felicia Hoshino |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's picture book |
| Publisher | Lee & Low Books |
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Publication date
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2015 |
| Pages | 32 |
| Awards |
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| ISBN | 978-1-6006-0853-7 |
Juna's Jar is a children's picture book written by Jane Bahk and with illustrations by Felicia Hoshino. The book tells the story of Juna, a little girl whose best friend left to live somewhere else. Through her imagination, she finds solitude by filling an old kimchi jar with a variety of things.
Bahk's debut book was published in 2015 by Lee & Low Books after winning the publisher's "New Voices Award". Juna's Jar received positive reviews by critics, both due to Hoshino's watercolor paintings as well for Bahk's writing, and was also the recipient of an award by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association.
Plot
Juna, a Korean-American girl, is best friends with Hector, her neighbor in Koreatown. The two kids would usually play together in a park nearby, which included collecting interesting objects and insects they found during their time playing. They stored these items in Juna's old kimchi jar, and then released after observing them.
One day, Juna found out Hector is no longer living with his grandmother, and was sent to live with his parents in a far away place, without saying goodbye. Her older brother, Minho, to help her, adds a variety of things to the jar each day (a small fish, some twigs, a bean plant), and each night Juna goes on a journey inside it, looking for Hector.
Inspiration
The story of Juna's Jar is based both on Bahk's experiences during childhood as well as her husband's. As a child, Bahk would collect insects and other small critters in kimchi jars and build habitats for them. Bahk's husband grew up in Los Angeles' Koreatown, where the story is set, and he used to have a childhood friend called Hector, who moved away. While her husband lived in a diverse place, Bahk was the only Korean child in her school.
