If It Hadn't Been for Yoon Jun

by Marie G. Lee

As she reluctantly becomes friends with Yoon Jun, a new student from Korea, seventh grader Alice Larsen becomes more interested in learning about her own Korean background.

Genres: Adoption, Childrens

134 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Marie G. Lee is a second-generation Korean American who was born and raised in Minnesota. Marie was born on April 25, 1964 in Hibbing, Minnesota. She is the daughter of William and Grace Lee, who immigrated to the United States in 1953.

As a Founder of the Asian American Writers Workshop, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Kenyon Review, and several anthologies. Her books include Finding My Voice, the story of Ellen Sung's senior year as the only Asian in a small Minnesota high school; Saying Goodbye, a sequel to Finding My Voice, is the story of Ellen Sung's continued search for her Korean American identity at Harvard; Necessary Roughness, the story of a Korean American boy who wants to play football; and If It Hadn't Been for Yoon Jun, the story of a Korean American adoptee, Alice Larsen, who confronts her Korean identity when she meets Yoon Jun, a Korean immigrant who is her fellow student at school. If It Hadn't Been for Yoon Jun is a finalist for the Maud Hart Lovelace award.
Marie's latest book is Night of the Chupacabras - a funny, slightly scary mystery about Mexican Vampires!

Marie draws on her experiences growing up as a Korean American. She is a graduate of Brown University, and a lecturer at Yale. She enjoys children and is a great role model for all kids. Her books are particularly relevant for Asian American children growing up in America today.

NEW FLASH!! The novel is being reissued by Soho Press forbes.com/sites/rachelkramerbussel/2...

Reviews

[Laura Beam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1980s gem was was very well written and dealt with tough topics, particularly for its time. It dealt with trans-racial adoption, racism towards Asian-Americans, immigration, Native American poverty, and the white savior complex. I was really impressed with it. Though there were some difficult moments of bias and stereotyping in the beginning of the book, I think that Marie G. Lee did a good job of confronting them and showing the main character's journey as a trans-racial adoptee. I really wish that this book was still in print because I think it would be great for middle schoolers to read about such important issues in a really relatable way.

[Pashi]

This had the prayer my mom's family used to say verbatim, and they were from Minnesota! Crazy.

[S · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book called “If It Hadn’t Been For Yoon Jun”,written by Marie G. Lee and the lexile is 5.2. A girl named alison sees a new kid and does not like him so well in the beginning later on in the story she gets partnered with him and is forced to work with him on a project. Then at the end they both became good friends.

Alison and a new boy called yoon jun, alison did not like him at all at the start were yoon jun kinda like her as a person, as the story progresses all the suding alison starts to see hearts with the name alison +yoon jun in the heart a few time and she thought that yoon jun was doing it, then she get partnered with him on a project, they start to like each other as friends.

Alison said “hey i made because she got on the cheerleading squad and she was happy. Alison had always wanted to get on the cheer team and now she did.

I read this book called “If It Hadn’t Been For Yoon Jun”,written by Marie G. Lee and the lexile is 5.2. A girl named alison sees a new kid and does not like him so well in the beginning later on in the story she gets partnered with him and is forced to work with him on a project. Then at the end they both became good friends.

Alison and a new boy called yoon jun, alison did not like him at all at the start were yoon jun kinda like her as a person, as the story progresses all the suding alison starts to see hearts with the name alison +yoon jun in the heart a few time and she thought that yoon jun was doing it, then she get partnered with him on a project, they start to like each other as friends.

Alison said “hey i made because she got on the cheerleading squad and she was happy. Alison had always wanted to get on the cheer team and now she did.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduced me to--at least the concept of kimchi. From the book, I always imagined it as the color of pink insulation (with the texture being a mix between the watery crunch from pickled napa cabbage and the airy crunch of cotton candy). Slightly disappointed when I saw the real thing for the first time, but probably for the best.

[Eekind · Rating 3 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyable YA read about empathizing with immigrants and unpacking racism in small town Minnesota

I really enjoyed Alice and her POV throughout the book. I think it could have been very easy to soften her too quickly whether it’s around Yoon Jun or Julie Greyhorse. I like that she is a mean girl who denigrates people she sees as poor and trashy because if belies her own insecurities. She is still feeling out her ability to succeed in a majority white community even as someone who vehemently sees herself as American and her experience as a transracial adoptee as immaterial. To the point where she goes from day dreaming about having blonde hair like her white little sister to match the rest of the family and kind of sublimates that into a dream about having a white mother and Korean father that will result in her hair turning blonde when she gets older.

I don’t know if I 100% needed pages and pages of secondary characters talking about how dirty, poor and offputting Yoon Jun is, but I appreciate that Alice feeds into this bullying both as a verbal abuser and then as a silent observer when Yoon Jun is being bullied by a more openly racist student in Travis Jones. Also, The Author Marie Lee grew up as a Korean immigrant in small town Minnesota so if she wants to depict the more cruel and unwieldy aspects of racism and xenophobia, I think she’s entitled to

I do wish for the International day research we got more that just Alice paging through a world book encyclopedia about Korea. I guess it’s was supposed to be a commentary on how this information is less available to younger readers through no fault of their own, because Yoon Jun just picks up a high school / college level book on the history of Korea and they use that to build most of the geographic and cultural aspects of the presentation that’s supposed to be geared around bringing in snacks that represent your heritage

I appreciate Alice’s humility to the Lees as their relationship deepens feel more grounded later in the book because she does hold all of these racist and classicist pre conceptions about them and when she’s faced with the reality of Mrs Lees illness and the absence of a support system that Alice takes for granted, it feels like real progress has been made. I don’t. Know if I buy that them sharing meals completely papers over the gap in experience, but it’s a nice device and I feel like that stakes of completing the International Day presentation makes sense. It is kind of crazy that Pastor Larsen just buys the Lees insurance and offers to have the church cover the rest of Mrs Lees medical expenses, but I guess it’s a good lesson for younger readers not to assume that you as an individual can’t sway more privileged people into providing for the less fortunate

[Seo Thị · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks Yoon Jun.

[Cheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting. Yong Jong Lee is very interesting.

[Keydi]

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