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Summer Reading Study Guides for Seventh Grade
Study Guide for When My Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park
When school begins in August, you will be tested over the summer reading books.
You will not have to present the answers to this study guide in class. Its purpose,
however, is to guide your reading of the book and prepare you for the test. This becomes
your study guide; it will not be reviewed or discussed before the summer reading test. Be
sure that you answer these questions in such a way that you can study from them. You
may edit these pages to add more answer space.
Character and Term List:
Be able to identify each character or term below. Specific information about each one
will help keep these characters or terms clear and distinct in your mind as you study.
01. Abuji
02. Omoni
03. Hyungnim
04. Opah
05. Ajima
06. Yobo
07. Tae-yul
08. Sun-yee
09. Kim Young-chun
10. Uncle
11. “Kaneyama”
12. Kaneyama Nobuo
13. Tomo
14. Kitei Son
15. Sohn Kee Chung
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16. Kaneyama Keoko
17. Kanji
18. Chin - il - pa
19. Buntaro-san
20. Jung-shin
21. Manchuria
22. Mrs. Ahn
23. Spade-face
24. Kamikaze
25. Miss Lim
26. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Setting and Events:
27. Name the places (countries) and time periods for the main events in this novel.
28. Name two important historical events that are discussed in the novel.
29. What was so unique about the structure of this novel?
Questions:
1. When does the story begin?
2. Who lives in the same house as Sun-hee?
3. Why did Sun-hee have to ask Tae-yul to explain things to her?
4. How did Tae-yul learn about what was going on?
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5. When did the Japanese take over Korea?
6. Chapter 3 is mostly a flashback. Sun-hee is remembering something that happened
four years ago. Read this section carefully and describe her memories in detail.
7. In chapter 4, Tae-yul remembers the same event, but he gives more details about what
happened to Uncle. Read this carefully and explain why Uncle was arrested and beaten.
8. While Uncle is recovering from his beating, he draws a picture for Sun-hee and Taeyul. What does he draw? Why did he tell them to burn it after they had memorized it?
9. Compare the Korean flag to the Japanese flag.
10. What special award did Sun-hee receive in fourth grade?
11. What did the other children call her after she won this award? Why?
12. What is millet? Why did the family have to start eating millet instead of rice?
13. Summarize the incident regarding rose of Sharon trees and cherry trees
14. Why does Tae-yul think his Uncle might be changing into a chin-il-pa? (pp. 37-40)
15. What historical event is described on p. 46?
16. Describe Tae-yul’s reaction to hearing and seeing his first airplane. Why did he start
pedaling so fast on his way home?
17. Why did Omoni tell Sun-hee that they must help Mrs. Ahn, their neighbor, get out of
her house and to the neighborhood accounting? (pp. 51-59)
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18. List some of the things the Japanese Imperial Army took away from Koreans. What
precious possession did they take away from Tae-yul?
19. Tomo gave a secretive warning to Sun-hee about something that was going to happen
soon. She thought he was saying that Uncle would be arrested. After she warned Uncle,
he disappeared. Later, she realized that Tomo was talking about something else. What
was it?
20. Why is Sun-hee so sad and upset with herself? Why does she think she is stupid?
21. What did the Japanese find in Uncle’s printing shop? What happened to Uncle’s
family at that point?
22. When Tae-yul made new bowls for the family, he carved something on the bottom.
What was it?
23. Why did Tae-yul quit going to school?
24. Why were the students told to gather piles of rocks, and make bayonets?
25. An airplane dropped thousands of little papers. What did they say?
26. Why did Sun-hee begin to write in a journal?
27. How did Sun-hee discover that Jung-shin’s family was chin-il-pa?
28. Why did soldiers come to their house in the middle of the night? What were they
looking for? Did they find anything?
29. How did Tae-yul learn about Kamikaze pilots? What did he learn?
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30. How old was Tae-yul when he signed up to be in the army? (p. 114)
31. What surprising news does Tae-yul tell Sun-hee on page 116?
32. Why did he really join the army? (pp. 117-120)
33. Who is the only person Tae-yul talked to about his reason for joining the army? How
did he tell her she could help?
34. What did the Japanese take to Tae-yul’s house after he enlisted?
35. Why does Tae-yul volunteer to go to Japan for more training? (pp. 139-140)
36. What did Sun-hee discover when she was rereading Tae-yul’s letter? (pp. 142-143)
37. Why did Sun-hee decide to tell her father the truth about Tae-yul? What did she ask
him to do?
38. What concerned Abuji about going to the authorities with information about
Tae-yul’s admiration for his uncle? Did he do it anyway?
39. What is Tae-yul thinking about the night before he leaves for Japan? (pp. 149-150)
What does he finally decide?
40. Why do you think the barracks are nicer in Japan and that the men get new uniforms?
41. How many airplanes are there for the 200 pilots in training?
42. Describe Tae-yul’s squad. How many Koreans? How many Japanese?
43. What surprising news about the war does Tae-yul learn on p. 154?
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44. What does Tae-yul do the night before he leaves? What does he put in a little box?
Why?
45. On p. 160, Tae-yul writes that he will no longer be on earth in two days. But he also
is happy thinking that Uncle would be proud of him. Uncle would never be proud that
Tae-yul flies for the Japanese and destroys one of their naval carriers. What could
Tae-yul possibly be planning to do?
46. How did Tae-yul’s family know that he had flown his mission?
47. How long did it take for Tae-yul’s letter to arrive in Korea?
48. What is the color of mourning in Korea?
49. What is the good news at the end of chapter 29?
50. What is unusual about the author of chapters 29 and 30?
51. What two Japanese cities had been destroyed by a nuclear bomb?
52. What kind of fighting is now going on in Korea? Why? (p. 171)
53. What was in the ration package?
54. What important news did Ms. Lim’s letter contain? Why was Uncle unable to get
home?
55. Why is Sun-hee surprised to learn that Mrs. Ahn had hidden Uncle before he left
town?
56. On page 182, Tae-yul explains the plan he had made months earlier. He never
intended to bomb and American ship. What had he planned instead?
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57. What prevented Tae-yul from carrying out his plans?
58. What is Tae-yul uncertain about on p. 185?
59. What caused Tae-yul to run out of the house in anger? (p. 186)
60. What helped Tae-yul begin to respect his father again?