F IS FOR FABULOSO is the story of
Jin-Ha, a seventh-grade girl who is struggling in her honors math class. Jin-Ha
began her schooling in Korea, but moved to Minnesota with her family when her father fell in love with the country while studying
abroad. Jin-Ha learns English quickly, studies hard, and makes good grades, but
struggles in math class. Her mother went to college in Korea, but is now too
shy to speak English. Her father is working at an auto shop with aspirations
of becoming a teacher.
When Jin-Ha is out with her mother,
she notices the looks that other people give them as they speak in Korean. Her
mother did attempt to speak English, but was embarrassed and quieted when a man rudely told her to “Learn English!”
when she could not be understood. Jin-Ha wants her mother to try English again,
but she understands her feelings. She is sensitive to her mother and notices
when people avoid looking at her mother when she translates for her. Her mother
does attempt more English when she feels comfortable around someone, sometimes adding extra syllables to give the words a
more Korean flow.
Jin-Ha is faced with multiple challenges
in her math class. First of all, she has a teacher who lectures very quickly
and doesn’t use many concrete aids or examples. She tries to keep up with
him, but the concepts just don’t seem to make sense. The teacher is inappropriate
in many ways. First, he never bothers to learn how to pronounce Jin-Ha’s
name, calling her “Gina” even after repeated correction. When Jin-Ha
asks for more help, he refuses, referring to her as “you people” when saying why she should be doing well. When Jin-Ha and her mother run into him at the store, he says, “And like I said
before, you have a natural advantage. You Japanese are going to beat our butts-oops,
excuse the language-if we’re not careful.” The fact that he does
not even know that she is Korean, and assumes to know her nationality by the way she looks is hurtful and appalling.
When Jin-Ha receives an F on a quiz,
she freezes up and tells her mother that F is for “fabuloso,” a word her friend has been using lately. Her parents are very concerned about studying and grades, as “only the smartest” go to college
in Korea. She worries about what they would think and when she lies, creates
an even worse problem for herself. By lying to her parents, she has made the
situation far more serious and complicated and does not see a way out. She never
meant to lie to or hurt her parents; she just didn’t want them to be disappointed.
Grant, a hockey player at school,
takes the time to help her with her math lessons. Grant has been mean to her
in the past, calling her a “chink” in front of his friends. He tries
to pass it off as male bravado and makes an effort to change the way he behaves. Jin-Ha
helps him realize that it is better to be true to himself.
Interesting to note, however, is the
cover illustration. Jin-Ha is pictured as a young girl, looking more like a third
or fourth grader than a seventh grader. She also has her hair pulled back, apparently
in a bow, when the author has made a point in the text to say that Jin-Ha’s hair is cut in a bob and “too short
to braid”. Also, even though the story is written in 1999, and the students
are using computers in the library, Jin-Ha is pictured in front of a card catalog. It
is possible that the library still uses them, but seems unlikely. Lastly, Jin-Ha
is holding her paper, on which is written the F. The grade is on notebook paper,
with Jin-Ha’s written work. However, the teacher passed out the quizzes
for the students to complete and Jin-Ha wrote her answers in. These details may
seem small, but they lend a sort of inauthenticity to the cover of the book, and leave the reader wondering if the artist
even took the time to read the book.
F IS FOR FABULOSO is an interesting
read that touches on issues in Korean American culture without seeming forced or contrived.
This book would be an excellent read aloud/discussion book for a class.
