Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “A Step from Heaven” as Want to Read:
A Step from Heaven
by
From master storyteller An Na comes the Printz Award–winning novel about a Korean girl who tells her firsthand account of trying to find her place and identity in America from the day she leaves Korea as a child to her rocky journey through the teenage years.
At age four, Young Ju moves with her parents from Korea to Southern California. She has always imagined America woul ...more
At age four, Young Ju moves with her parents from Korea to Southern California. She has always imagined America woul ...more
Get A Copy
Kindle Edition, 160 pages
Published
July 26th 2016
by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
(first published April 30th 2001)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of A Step from Heaven

Dec 01, 2010
karen
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
and-so-this-is-grad-school,
kiddiwinx
this book was very (view spoiler) i didn't think i was going to like it because it started out in the voice of (view spoiler) which was too (view spoiler) for me, but it thankfully changed as the female child-character grows up to show the slow acclimitization and americanization of a korean family and the struggles and triumphs they undergo, while still holding on to their roots. it is actually a very graceful and delica
...more

This was simultaneously excellent BUT hard to read. It's written from a really personal perspective, from the eyes of Young Ju, from when she's just a little tiny kid to when she's ready for college. YES. That's a lot of space to cover in less than 200 pages. BUT IT WORKS, PEOPLES, IT JUST WORKS.
But there's no speaking marks at the beginning which sent my brain into a small explosion. AND it gets super sad and abusive towards the end and just made me ache. It's basically about a Korean family m ...more
But there's no speaking marks at the beginning which sent my brain into a small explosion. AND it gets super sad and abusive towards the end and just made me ache. It's basically about a Korean family m ...more

Oct 04, 2009
Tatiana
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Tatiana by:
printz
Here continues my quest to read all Printz winner books. This one wasn't as impressive as I expected it to be, but 4 stars nonetheless. I'll explain.
A Step from Heaven is story of a Korean family who come to the States to better their lives but fail at it because they bring with them their own personal troubles (mostly in a form of an abusive good-for-nothing father) and their traditional and foreign ideas of pride, honor, and submission.
A Step from Heaven is a gem of a book. In terms of litera ...more
A Step from Heaven is story of a Korean family who come to the States to better their lives but fail at it because they bring with them their own personal troubles (mostly in a form of an abusive good-for-nothing father) and their traditional and foreign ideas of pride, honor, and submission.
A Step from Heaven is a gem of a book. In terms of litera ...more

Jun 19, 2010
Thomas
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
realistic-fiction
At four years old, Young Ju does not understand that Mi Gook means America, not heaven. When her parents tell her will move to the magical Mi Gook with them, she assumes that they are going to a special, sacred place. She does not understand the problems sure to arise: struggling to learn a new language, financial problems her family face, and her father's escalating anger. As Young Ju takes time to transition into a life at America, she develops an unexpected, unique voice - one that possesses
...more

Apr 04, 2011
John Egbert
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Nobody, honestly.
Don't be fooled. This book is not about immigrants -- it's about a girl who has to deal with an abusive father after coincidentally immigrating. The main character knows English awesome. Issues of immigration are hardly brought up, and when they are they're poorly tied into the abusive father. Many matters I would have loved to see more of are never addressed, and instead shoved aside for stupid things that I don't care about. Americans are made out to be the norm -- kind and quirky saviors. But
...more

This is such a powerful piece of work exploring not only exploring the experiences of immigrants, but family dynamics, gender roles, and substance and physical abuse. Written from the perspective of a child, it truly deserves having won the Printz Award, as we slowly follow the family from moving from Korea, until Ju gets prepared to go to university, their struggles and strains a new culture puts on the family. Just great!!!

This is a beautiful book. The prose is simple and graceful. At times it's poetic, at times powerful, and at other times touching. The story is simple, true, and feels inevitable. The characters are believable, as are the situations. For what it is, the book is a little gem, and brilliant on its own terms.
I have a few quibbles about the book. The structure is deliberately episodic, and this means that decisions taken in one chapter don't often lead to obvious consequences in later chapters. Inste ...more
I have a few quibbles about the book. The structure is deliberately episodic, and this means that decisions taken in one chapter don't often lead to obvious consequences in later chapters. Inste ...more

Sep 12, 2017
CW (The Quiet Pond) ✨
rated it
it was ok
Shelves:
2017,
young-adult,
ownvoices,
diverse-shelf,
has-poc-rep,
middle-grade,
coming-of-age,
audiobook,
realistic-fiction,
short
Don't mind the three stars - if this book won't be triggering to you and you want to read more immigrant stories, read this book. It's such an important narrative.
- This was such a difficult book to listen to (I listened to the audiobook) but it is such a hard-hitting story that intertwines an immigrant narrative with domestic abuse.
- The protagonist is Korean, and it starts when she is 4 and ends around the time she is about to leave home for college.
- This book does explore domestic abuse at ...more
- This was such a difficult book to listen to (I listened to the audiobook) but it is such a hard-hitting story that intertwines an immigrant narrative with domestic abuse.
- The protagonist is Korean, and it starts when she is 4 and ends around the time she is about to leave home for college.
- This book does explore domestic abuse at ...more

Jul 02, 2020
Shannon
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
owned,
short,
novels,
korean-characters,
made-me-cry,
asian-characters,
bought-2018,
california
What a sad story.
😢
😢

This could have been four stars. It had the potential to be a really great book. But unfortunately it just isn't there. If it were longer it could have the chance to flesh out something other than the abuse. Any book dealing with abuse seems to revolve around it.
This book is about a young Korean girl, Young Ju, who immigrates to America with her family. While the summary says that they have difficulty learning English, that is only brought to light a few times. Young Ju learns it easily, as doe ...more
This book is about a young Korean girl, Young Ju, who immigrates to America with her family. While the summary says that they have difficulty learning English, that is only brought to light a few times. Young Ju learns it easily, as doe ...more

A Korean family emigrates to the United States in search of a better life. Told from the viewpoint of the daughter, the story follows her from age four to age sixteen. She and her family encounter language difficulties, feelings of isolation, a struggle for identity, and an abusive relationship with her father. Young Ju, the daughter, goes to school with no understanding of English, and develops into one of the top members of her class. Apa, the father, begins to resent her acquisition of Englis
...more

This is the story of a Korean immigrant family who are looking for the American dream. They come to America when Young is five and believe it will solve all of their problems. They quickly discover that all of their personal problems and most of their everyday life problems have come with them. Young, eventually, advocates for her mother against her abusive, alcoholic father who leaves and the family begins to heal.
This book will appeal to teens who have an interest in poetry because it is writt ...more
This book will appeal to teens who have an interest in poetry because it is writt ...more

Nov 14, 2017
Peacegal
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
mature middle school to adult readers
This book seems to have inspired a lot of passion from readers, both pro and con. I enjoyed it. I thought it was well-written, with a sympathetic main character and a thought-provoking look at Korean immigrant culture.
It's not perfect; there are a few plot holes and there are scenes that are probably too intense for some young readers. I would recommend it, depending on maturity level, for middle school and older. ...more
It's not perfect; there are a few plot holes and there are scenes that are probably too intense for some young readers. I would recommend it, depending on maturity level, for middle school and older. ...more

Wow, talk about an absolutely heartbreaking book. It took me a while to get into the flow of reading this book, especially from a young child’s perspective. However, once I got the hang of it, I quickly realized the magnitude of the story Young Ju had to tell.
Young Ju and her family live in Korea briefly in the beginning of the book. Her father is abusive towards her mother, but the one thing that could distract him from his abusiveness is thinking about how great life would be in America. When ...more
Young Ju and her family live in Korea briefly in the beginning of the book. Her father is abusive towards her mother, but the one thing that could distract him from his abusiveness is thinking about how great life would be in America. When ...more

I was under the impression that this book was about the Korean American experience. Yet, what I read was flowery prose about a girl who misspells Korean words, and mostly only focuses on her alcoholic fathers' abuse.
Firstly, Young-Ju's younger brother calls her UHN-NEE. This is not only inaccurate, but it's ABSOLUTELY WRONG. When a younger male addresses an older female sibling, he is supposed to address her as NOO-NA. It's SO weird that this author, who is supposedly Korean - does not know suc ...more
Firstly, Young-Ju's younger brother calls her UHN-NEE. This is not only inaccurate, but it's ABSOLUTELY WRONG. When a younger male addresses an older female sibling, he is supposed to address her as NOO-NA. It's SO weird that this author, who is supposedly Korean - does not know suc ...more

Feb 13, 2012
Ben Peltier
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
adolescent-literature
Not only does An Na’s A Step from Heaven tell an excellent story, but the manner in which she tells this story and the issues brought up within it make it a fantastic book.
The story describes the childhood of Young Ju, a South Korean girl who moves to America very early in her life. Young Ju’s growth is not only shown through her experiences in the story, but it is also shown in the writing style. As the story begins, the sentences are short and choppy. They are what one might expect from a fo ...more
The story describes the childhood of Young Ju, a South Korean girl who moves to America very early in her life. Young Ju’s growth is not only shown through her experiences in the story, but it is also shown in the writing style. As the story begins, the sentences are short and choppy. They are what one might expect from a fo ...more

4Q 2P MJ
A Step From Heaven is about a Korean girl who moves to America with her parents at a young age. As a child of immigrants, Young Ju feels torn between loyalty toward her family and culture and the American way of life. Her parents work long hours in unpleasant jobs and struggle to instill traditional Korean culture into their children. The writing style is very poetic and the narrator’s descriptions are very emotional.
The book is similar to others that I read, such as American Born Chine ...more
A Step From Heaven is about a Korean girl who moves to America with her parents at a young age. As a child of immigrants, Young Ju feels torn between loyalty toward her family and culture and the American way of life. Her parents work long hours in unpleasant jobs and struggle to instill traditional Korean culture into their children. The writing style is very poetic and the narrator’s descriptions are very emotional.
The book is similar to others that I read, such as American Born Chine ...more

May 03, 2008
Julie
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
teen,
middle-school
This is a book about a Korean girl in America and her family. It starts out with memories from Korea which end up having strong significance at the end of the story. The protagonist is the daughter of an alcoholic and abusive father. The book is very well written and believable. It is sad but also shows the strength of the characters. The mother encourages her daughter to dream because she says in America women can be anything. There are a lot of family dynamics present: frustration, embarrassme
...more

This was simultaneously beautiful and brutal, but stayed with me for a long time after I finished reading. It's a story of Young Ju as she and her family move from small Korean village to the USA. It's told from Young Ju's POV as she's growing up and I thought that An Na did an amazing job at portraying the world through a child's eyes. The story isn't very complicated but it's at the same time raw and poetic, very realisting and moving. I'm glad that I decided to pick it up and would recommend
...more

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. It had such an impact, even with covering so many years in so few pages. Young Ju goes through so much in those few years before college... (view spoiler) I can't imagine going through so much at such a young age. Even though many years are
...more

Jul 13, 2010
Casey Strauss
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
asian-american
Young Ju is four years old when she and her parents move from Korea to America. Before the move, she hears her parents frequently talking about ‘Mi Gook’, and how life will be better there. Misunderstanding, Young believes that her family is moving to heaven as they fly through the clouds on the plane headed to the United States. Once her family has arrived, she is told that it is ‘a step from heaven’ and that in this country she can be anything she wants to be. As her family settles into their
...more

This book is about a four old girl and her family who moved from Korea to America and their struggles of making it in America. The main character is Young Ju. Through out this book Young must find out who she is while she pretends to be a perfect daughter of an oppressive father. Soon Young is given a little brother. Young isn't very happy about this new boy in her life. Her father likes him more and is given special treatment. But later she sees if you are suppose to be the son that honors the
...more

This book started out a little slow but had me in tears at the end.
It is about a girl who moved to America from Korea when she was four. Being a child of immigrants and an immigrant herself, her parents have strict rules and the transition for her is far from easy.
She started to feel like something was changing in her family. After her grandmother died, her father started drinking and smoking and only went to work sometimes. One night, when she felt something was not right, she stayed up and pe ...more
It is about a girl who moved to America from Korea when she was four. Being a child of immigrants and an immigrant herself, her parents have strict rules and the transition for her is far from easy.
She started to feel like something was changing in her family. After her grandmother died, her father started drinking and smoking and only went to work sometimes. One night, when she felt something was not right, she stayed up and pe ...more

Jan 20, 2014
C.E. G
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
own-voices
I loved this story about a Korean family moving to the US. At first, I was skeptical about it's YA label because a) the story starts when the main character, Young Ju, is 4 years old and b) it uses a very poetic language with lots of unexplained Korean words in the first few chapters, which I imagine could be a tough sell to some teens. But as the story goes on, Young Ju gets older (the last chapter taking place right before she leaves for college), and it doesn't take THAT long to get acclimate
...more

Title: A Step From Heaven
Author: An Na
I really liked how this book is easy on the eyes and the tone is soothing. The author seems like a calm person, but yet engages the reader throughout the book.
It's about a young girl who moved from a place in Korea, Mi Gook, into America, starting life all over. Her father and mother were doing fine, and she soon received a brother. She was learning english and found herself a best friend. As she knew that having a best friend did not mean you had to tell ...more
Author: An Na
I really liked how this book is easy on the eyes and the tone is soothing. The author seems like a calm person, but yet engages the reader throughout the book.
It's about a young girl who moved from a place in Korea, Mi Gook, into America, starting life all over. Her father and mother were doing fine, and she soon received a brother. She was learning english and found herself a best friend. As she knew that having a best friend did not mean you had to tell ...more

Sep 18, 2010
Hannah
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
grad-school-schmad-school
This was an interesting glimpse into the life of a Korean girl who immigrates to the US with her family at a young age, and revolves mainly around her family adjusting to their new life and dealing with one another. Her story is told through a series of vignettes, with a lot of very creative metaphors and similes that give the book a very original and, in the beginning, sweet child-like point of view. I liked how the last vignette connected back to the first, somewhat redeeming--or at least show
...more

Sarah Stewart
Multicultural literature
Young Ju’s life is changed when her parents decide to move to America, or Mi Gook as they say in Korea, in hopes of a better life. Young Ju must leave her grandmother, her Halmoni, behind though. In America, Young Ju becomes and older sister to her brother Joon. She describes a struggle in being a girl and being the oldest sibling. Also weaved throughout the book is the abuse she and her family must endure from her father. The book, ranging from age three to ...more
Multicultural literature
Young Ju’s life is changed when her parents decide to move to America, or Mi Gook as they say in Korea, in hopes of a better life. Young Ju must leave her grandmother, her Halmoni, behind though. In America, Young Ju becomes and older sister to her brother Joon. She describes a struggle in being a girl and being the oldest sibling. Also weaved throughout the book is the abuse she and her family must endure from her father. The book, ranging from age three to ...more

Moving into a new culture while keeping the mindset and many of the traditions of the old culture can be like trying to fit together pieces from two different puzzles. This is what Young Ju learns as she makes the transition from her homeland of Korea to the United States of America. An Na tells a story of change, familial struggles, and hope using the voice of Korean immigrant Young Ju.
When Young Ju learns that she is moving to America she believes that she is going to heaven. Soon, however, sh ...more
When Young Ju learns that she is moving to America she believes that she is going to heaven. Soon, however, sh ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
PJ Jacobs 9th Grade: A Step From Heaven Lit. circle alternate assighnment | 1 | 5 | Feb 07, 2018 07:50AM | |
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Asian girl immigrant abusive father [s] | 4 | 162 | Oct 06, 2012 11:05PM |
Related Articles
Contemporary young adult literature has often led the way in depicting the real-life issues facing teens from all backgrounds. To delve into...
76 likes · 10 comments
1 trivia question
More quizzes & trivia...
“Your life can be different, Young Ju. Study and be strong. In America, women have choices.”
—
12 likes
More quotes…