Summary

In "A Map of the Simplified World," one day during third grade, a new girl named Anjali entered Mrs. Wilson's classroom. She sat next to Ji-won Li. Ji-won had moved from Korea to America a year ago. She "had not had a friend" since (80).

Mrs. Wilson pulled down "the map called the Simplified World" (80). Whenever they had a new student, she would put a star on the map marking where the student was from. Anjali was from India.

Ji-won and Anjali began talking. Ji-won told her mother about Anjali after school, but her mother did not listen. Her mother did not like her to be friends with people who were not Korean. When she realized what Ji-won had been saying "about sitting next to an Indian girl," she scolded her (86).

On Saturday, Ji-won's family...