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Patti Kim

Autor/a de I'm Ok

4+ obres 182 Membres 8 Ressenyes

Obres de Patti Kim

Obres associades

Kori: The Beacon Anthology of Korean American Fiction (2001) — Col·laborador — 21 exemplars
Bold Words: A Century of Asian American Writing (2001) — Col·laborador — 19 exemplars

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Coneixement comú

Gènere
female

Membres

Ressenyes

After losing his father, Ok struggles to distract himself from the everything. Ok enters the school talent show to win and help his struggling mother. During all of this, Ok has to deal with bullying and his mothers new boyfriend. This is a great book to have in a middle school classroom library because many students are dealing with these family issues as well as bullying in middle school.
 
Marcat
annamcgee1 | Hi ha 4 ressenyes més | Nov 2, 2021 |
Ok (pronounced like "pork" without the "p" and the "r") Lee is having a tough time of it: his father died in a fall from a roof, and he and his mother are struggling to get by on her three jobs. Ok has no friends at school, but when he sees a poster for a talent competition, he decides to enter for the prize money. He also comes up with his own moneymaking scheme, inspired by a neighbor, and starts charging the girls in school to braid their hair (he learns how from a library book). Despite Ok's initiative and his mother's hard work, they aren't making ends meet, and Ok's mother is vulnerable to Deacon Koh's amorous advances. Ok doesn't trust him, however ("he tries too hard"), and runs away rather than accept "d-CON" as a paternal substitute. Luckily, Ok has made a couple friends at school: Mickey McDonald, who's sort of an outcast herself, and Asa Banks, a bully with a secret (he's not so great at reading). Mickey and Asa team up to find Ok when he runs away.

See also: My Jasper June by Laurel Snyder, Front Desk by Kelly Yang, Roll With It by Jamie Sumner (Mickey reminds me of Coralee)

Quotes

Invisibility is key to survival. If you're invisible, you don't get in trouble. You don't get hurt. No one sees you. (17)

If only money grew like I do. If only we could keep up with each other. (38)

I know that feeling. Mocking the impossible happens when you know something you want badly is out of your reach and you give up trying and make fun of it instead so you don't feel so lousy. (129)

"Hope makes people stupid." (Ok to Mickey, 226)

"Of course he don't want to talk about it, but you can't not talk about it, or else you going to get sick in the head and end up camping out all by your lonesome in some dead family's living room." (Mickey, 254)
… (més)
 
Marcat
JennyArch | Hi ha 4 ressenyes més | Feb 24, 2020 |
When Ok's dad suddenly passes away, he tries to help his mother make ends meet but ends up struggling more than just with the financial end of things.

Ok is in middle school. His parents moved to the US from Korea, and his name is pronounced like 'pork' but without the 'p' and 'r'. All is fine, until his father falls from a roof and dies, leaving Ok's mother struggling terribly to make ends and meet. Ok decides to help out by braiding hair for pay at school, but it this doesn't bring the riches he'd hoped. When the deacon at church starts to move in on his mother's life—a man Ok doesn't like—he realizes he might be getting in the way of things.

While there are humorous moments, this is a read with heavy undercurrents. Racism plays a big role as the kids at school single out Ok, keeping him on the outskirts of the class. One boy in particular is harsh in the bullying. Not all of the bullying is racism, however. Ok's developing friend also suffers verbal turmoil for completely other reasons, making it clear that the school has a pretty difficult atmosphere. While the racism aspect is well done, it wasn't a topic Ok (or his mother) hits head-on. He doesn't like the treatment and lashes back in a natural but not kind way. The whole topic of racism ends up sliding in as a more rounded bullying issue than settling into a topic in and of itself...which is probably a more realistic and natural response in most school yards.

The Korean church and women in it was a funny, nice touch. Especially the Deacon is well done as it's not clear whether it's Ok or his mother who are seeing the man for who he really is. Ok's mother dates the man extremely quickly after the father's death (within a couple of months), and when compared with the job end of things, all of it was squished pretty quickly into the time frame. One of the Deacon's biggest secrets, insurance sales, is never explained and hangs as a loose end.

Ok as well as the two main sub characters are harsh in their interactions, which came across pretty mean at times. Still, the building friendships happen smoothly, believable and is are an inspiration. But this harsh side strings through the entire book, especially when Ok takes a pretty nasty personality turn for a while. While it was nice to see him forgiven for his mean actions later, the lack of true consequences didn't necessarily leave the best message to readers of that age group.

All in all, this was an engaging read with lots of food for thought . The themes are realistic and hit a nerve for not only middle graders. While not everyone in the intended age group will feel at home in this story, when placed in the right hands, it's a book which holds until the last page and leaves the reader thinking.

I received a complimentary copy and found the story engaging enough to want to leave my honest thoughts.
… (més)
 
Marcat
tdrecker | Hi ha 4 ressenyes més | Dec 26, 2018 |

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Estadístiques

Obres
4
També de
2
Membres
182
Popularitat
#118,785
Valoració
½ 3.6
Ressenyes
8
ISBN
12

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