Comment

Jun 29, 2019Margaret Mullin rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I think this book will become a classic and used in classrooms as part of community-building activities; I'll definitely be pairing this with other books about names at the beginning of the school year. I love the bits of Peruvian culture that Juana incorporated into the illustrations, including all the Spanish book titles on the shelves in Alma's home. I also appreciated the scrapbook quality. The calm, reflective tone and look of this book provides a balance to some of the silly, vibrant books that will be on the YHBA list. This book is perfect for my school where our students' names are drawn from so many different cultures. It's also perfect for a school where the names are drawn primarily from one culture - so readers get a glimpse into other worlds and places. Two wishes for this book: That Juana Martinez-Neal had included her hyphenated -Neal in her note about her own name AND that she'd incorporated the Spanish words for grandmother, aunt, etc. in the text.