Summary: The Fold by An Na is the story of Joyce Park and her struggle with self image, love, and family. The last day of her junior year Joyce finds the courage to ask her mega-crush, John Ford Kang, to sign her yearbook. He does sign, but he signs it too the wrong girl, causing Joyce to question herself and if she will ever be beautiful enough to be noticed by John Ford Kang. Already being the middle child with the sister, Helen, which she is always being compared too and never lives up to that expectation, and the boy, Joyce has trouble trying to keep her head above water at home. Just when her questioning begins, her plastic-surgery-crazed aunt hits the lottery and decides to help each member of the family better themselves. Offering Joyce the chance to get The Fold, a surgery to alter her Asian eyes, Joyce is then sent into a tailspin trying to decide if she wants the surgery or not. Helen can’t believe she would even consider it, her best friend Gina can’t believe she wouldn’t jump at the chance for free surgery, and Joyce hates pain. But the only thing she knows is that she wants John Ford Kang to notice her, to be her boyfriend, no matter what it takes to do so. The question becomes, would she consider surgery without knowing for sure that he will notice her? Or will she make him notice her for who she is?

Review: It was a little hard to get into at first, but after the first couple of chapters it was a pretty good story. It’s something I wish I had read in high school, because almost every high school-er goes through the “would he notice me if I was prettier?” kind of situation. The stories all coincide with one another and eventually all make sense; there is the semi-shocking, but kind of obvious twist with her sister Helen, Gina’s part in everything, the boy next door (literally), the boy of her dreams (there was always that one guy), and the mean girl (we all knew those). And yes, every time they talked about John Ford Kang, they either said the entire name or called him JFK, neither of which I particularly cared for. The ending seemed a bit unsatisfying, at least to me, but overall the story was a good one to tell. Although I did never figure out exactly with “The Fold” was, or how it changed someone’s face, but that’s just me (and yes, I did check Wikipedia, but I still have no idea the difference)! ( )

Reviewed by Marta Morrison for TeensReadToo.com

What would you do to be beautiful?

Joyce, the main character of An Na's new book, THE FOLD, is facing that question. Joyce, who is Korean, is going to be a senior in high school in the fall. Her Aunt Gomo has won some money and has scheduled a surgery to put a fold in Joyce's eyes.

I wasn't sure what a fold was but I am lucky to have a Mongolian exchange student living with me and she was able to explain. Solongo, my exchange student, said that she was lucky to have natural lines in her eyelids, but many of her aunts and cousins do not, and they are very concerned about not having them. It was very interesting and made the book more accessible for me.

Joyce has a big sister, Helen, who seems to be perfect, and Joyce feels that she is living in her shadow. Joyce also has a giant crush on a boy in school named John Ford Kang. John doesn't even know that Joyce exists. Joyce thinks that maybe, if she gets the fold, then John will realize that she is there -- but she really doesn't want to go through the surgery. The book then deals with this subject from the points of view of many other different characters.

I loved this book. I enjoyed the main characters, Joyce's family is funny, loving, and very open-minded. Gomo is demanding, but upon hearing her back story she seems to be someone with a very big heart. I enjoyed the scenes at the Korean church and how everyone knew everyone else's business. This book educated me a little about Korean-American culture. I was surprised to hear how they want to look European, while I always think that they are beautiful!

Thank you, An Na, for the wonderful story. I am now going to read your other books. ( )

A girl named Joyce is Korean. Her family owns a korean restaurant. It's her last day of school and she is determined to get the signature of the guy, John, she always liked. She wakes up that morning, looks in the mirror and finds that she has a pimple. She starts picking at it and it gets all red, so she puts creme but it just makes it look worse. Her sister, Helen is starting to get impatient so she leaves Joyce. Joyce comes out and her sister isn't there. She gets really mad and drops the yearbook to get her bike. She gets to school and finds out that she left her yearbook at home. She frantically goes to find her best friend, Gina. They are selling the yearbooks for $50. She borrows the money from Gina and buys another yearbook. She goes to class and decides to wait until after class to ask him. At the end of class she goes up to him and he accidently trips her. Joyce finds the strength to ask and he says yes and signs it. After he leaves she opens up the yearbook and finds out that he thought she was Lynn, a really shy korean girl also in that class. Joyce gets really upset and goes to tell Gina. They both go to Joyce's parent's restaurent. They both work there for extra money. Then her aunt Gomo arrives which Joyce and her brother, Andy nicknamed Michael because she gets so many plastic surgeries. Gomo announcess that she won the lottery and that everyone will get something. Everyone is so happy! She says to meet them at a Korean restaurant so she can tell them what they got. They all go to the restaurant that night so anxious to find out waht Gomo got them. They all sit down at a table and start out with Helen, she gets a beautiful Korean dress and a book of single Korean men. Helen does not want to date but Gomo wants her too. Andy gets ahrk liver pills to help him grow because when he grows up he wants to be aprofessional basketball player. Joyce gets an appointment to Dr. Reiner, a korean plastic surgeon. Gomo wants Joyce to get a double eyelid fold procedure which makes Asian women's eyes look fuller. Joyce's mom, Uhmma gets to go to a tatoo parlor for permanent tatooed eyebrows. Joyce doesn't want to go through with the procedure. Leaving the restaurant, Jyce's dad, Apa twists hi ankle. Joyce tells Gina about the procedure and that she doesn't want it done but she doesn't want to disappoint Gomo. Gina thinks she should do it. Gina takes Joyce to the department store that she works at and a person named Arlene gives her a full on makeover. She actually likes it in the end. The makeup starts to itch so when she gets back home she washes it all off. She finds her mom sitting on the couch with a puffed upo face where she could barely see her eyes, nose, and mouth. An allergic reaction to the tatoo ink. She goes outside to get her bike and Sam is ther taking pictures of her. He aske if he could drive her and Joyce says yes. Sam stays at the restaurant to eat. Joyce finds her brother hiding in the bathroom with a huge brown stain on his pants. She realizes that its probably just an allergic reaction to the pills. Andy stays in the bathroom the whole night and Helen hasn't even arrived yet. Joyce's mom is at home and her dad has a twisted ankile. The only person that can actually help is Mrs. Lee, Gina's mom. The dinner rush is going to start soon so she asks Sam for help in exchange for headshots. Gina arrives just as the dinner party arrives. She has great news. John is outside eating with his family. She gets so excited that she drops chili powder in her eyes. She starts screaming because it burns so fast. How can she go out with her eyes all red and burning. Just then Helen walks in. She wonders what is happening. Helens goes outside just as John's family is leaving. Joyce sees that John starts flirting with Helen. Joyce is upset and says that her sister is perfect and she will never be as good as her. Gina says its not true. Gomo comes to the restaurant with a korean man. Helen gets introduced to the guy and has to go on a date with him. the next day Gina tells Joyce that Lisa Yim got the procedure done and she will be at church. Gina wants Joyce to ask her some questions, so the next day Joyce and Gina find her in the bathroom and Joyce aske Lisa a bunch of questions. lisa invites Joyce to the church's volleyball game.
Gomo comes to pick up Joyce early in the morning for the appointment with Dr. Reiner. She goes to the doctor and the nurse takes apicture of her. The docor come and shown Joyce all the types of folds that he can make. Dr. Reiner puts temporary glue on her eyelids so she could get the feel of how it was going to look like. Joyce goes to the volleyball game with Gina and Sam. She sees Lisa and goes over to talk to her. Lisa starts being mean to Gina and Sam and Joyce doesn't stand up for them. Gina and Sam leave. John is there too. He comes up to Joyce and calls her Helen. Then Joyce says that she was the one who he tripped and then he remembers who she is. Lisa comes over and starts flirting with John. On of Joyce's folds comes apart. She gets embarrased and leaves.Joyce comes home and sees Helen sitting on the steps. She finds something out about Helen that she would have never expected to hear from her sister.

I'm not going to tell you the end so read the book

Does Joyce get the surgery?
Does she finally go out with John?
What is Helen's secret?
Will Gina and Joyce forgive and forget? ( )

A great book about self-acceptance and awareness.

From Google Books:
Joyce never used to care that much about how she looked, but that was before she met JFK (John Ford Kang), the most gorgeous guy in school. And it doesn't help that shes constantly being compared to her beautiful older sister, Helen. Then her rich plastic-surgery-addict aunt offers Joyce a gift to fix a part of herself she'd never realized needed fixing-her eyes. Joyce has heard of the fold surgery-a common procedure meant to make Asian women's eyes seem prettier and more American-but shes not sure she wants to go through with it. Her friend Gina can't believe she isn't thrilled. After all, the plastic surgeon has shown Joyce that her new eyes will make her look just like Helen-but is that necessarily a good thing?Printz Award-winning author An Na has created a surprisingly funny and thought-provoking look at notions of beauty, who sets the standards and how they affect us all. Joyce's decision is sure to spark heated discussions about the beauty myths readers confront in their own lives. ( )

Joyce's aunt gives each member of her family a present to make them look better. To Joyce, she offers plastic surgery to make her asian eyes look more american. Joyce needs to decide who she is, who she wants to be, and whether she needs the surgery to be that person. ( )