Becoming Naomi León
Written by: Pam Muños Ryan
Cover Illustrations by: Marijka Kostiw
Published by Scholastic, Inc. in NY in 2004
Genre: Realistic Fiction (Multicultural Work)
Ages: Grades 3-5
Summary: In this book a young girl named Naomi lived with her crippled brother and great-grandmother in an Airstream trailer they call "Baby Beluga." Naomi struggles with the lack of knowledge she has of her heritage. She knows barely anything about her Mexican father and does not remember her mother at the time the novel begins. After a visit from her mother, who took the children from their father when they were very young and basically gave them to her grandmother to raise, Naomi learns that she is very content to live with her great-grandmother. Naomi's mother "Skyla" is not what one would call a good mother. She only decides that she wants to take Naomi with her so that she can babysit for her boyfriend Clive, who has a younger daughter. She does not want to care for her crippled son at all! In the end, Naomi learns who she is through an impromptu visit to Mexico to find her father. She finally finds her voice, both literally and figuratively.
Response: One thing I really liked about this book were the lists Naomi always made. I have to make lists all the time so that I remember to do things, but I sometimes make lists, just like Naomi, to have a keepsake of memories. I particularly like Naomi's "List of Splendid Words." I think this resonates with me perhaps because I always make a word list when I read of words that I find interesting, etc.
I also like the cultural integration in this book. Nothing is ever very explicit, which is great for young readers, so they will not feel as though they are being taught. Many times throughout the book the author will have the characters speak Spanish and then repeat themselves in English so the audience understands what the characters are saying. English-speakers can learn several Spanish words, just by reading the book. They can also learn about many Mexican customs, such as making "cranberry sauce with jalapeño peppers" (91), the juice in Mexico that "tasted like a punch but with cinnamon" (148), the many types of foods they eat and drinks they drink, such as "quesillo[s],...mole,...[and] piña coco" (157), Señora de la Soledad, whom sailors and fishermen "ask..for assistance. She s part of Oxaca" (225), the piñatas that they children break and then run through the streets collecting the "peanuts, small oranges, and sugarcane that spilled from their clay tummies" (186), Las Posadas, the night when neighbors go "walking through the streets, knocking on doors and pretending to look for shelter, just like Mary and Joseph did in Bethlehem (176), and La Noche de los Rábanos, where people gather together to make all kinds of creations out of radishes for competition. These cultural elements and traditions are typical of the Mexican people, so the author's interpretation is authentic.
I feel that Pam Muños Ryan does have a personal connection to and presents an insider's perspective of the Mexican culture. Upon viewing her website I discovered that she grew up in California, so she was exposed to many traditions of Mexican-Americans during her childhood; thus, she would know much about their culture and be able to reflect on that in her novels. she also has a very mixed-racial heritage, being Mexican, Spanish, Italian, Basque, and American, so she is very culturally aware and brings her knowledge into her books. This is one element that makes her work very authentic, which is one characteristic of good multicultural literature.
This work does deal minutely with the stereotype that all Mexicans are doing badly in their country and want to migrate to America. This work absolutely dispels that because of Naomi's father, Santiago. One of the reasons his family was split apart was because he wanted to remain in Mexico. He says "Much of my money comes from my carvings, which are only sold in Oaxaca. My work, it is here" (223). He makes his living fishing and needs the Mexican coast on which to do that as well. Not everyone is poor in Mexico as the stereotype might suggest. It also shows that Mexicans are very family-oriented, often living in large extended families. Mexicans have a culture that is very unique to them and where they live, etc, but even among those differences, one can still find many similarities to our own culture, the importance of family, as stated above, the importance of traditions, such as Las Posadas, and the importance of heritage. Sometimes Americans perceive Mexicans in a negative light often because we cannot see past the language barrier and the fact that many of them come to America. In reality, they probably want to understand us as much as we wish we could understand them and they come here to work because they need to support their families, something we should admire. Although Santiago was not keen on leaving his life in Mexico, it seemed as though he would do that to be with his family, but at the end of the novel, he remains in his own country, but at least he will now have a connection to his children and will see them occationally.
This work also proves to be an excellent multicultural work because the setting ans characters are real and they would be interesting to many readers. It also deals with the difficult topic of Naomi and Owen's situation and allows readers to view the situation from many perspectives--the children's, Gram's, Skyla and Clive's, and the judge's.
I love the similes in this work! They create such vivid images in my mind about what hey author is describing. For example, Naomi says that Spanish words "felt like marbles moving around in [her] mouth" (35), Gram's crying was so upsetting that her "insides wobbled as if [she were] standing on a three-story roof looking down" (39), when she was frightened in the trailer park on night, she recalls having "a troublesome feeling tipto[ing] after [her] like a lurking shadow" (87). Naomi also says that the one aspect of her life that was "as clear as a vinegar-shined window" (137) was that her place was with Owen and Gram. Furthermore, about the lion she created out of a radish for the competition, she says that its mane was "like a majestic sunshine" (202). Reading these words I can imagine all of these images and the comparisons the author makes; her attention to detail is wonderful!
I think Naomi's lack of speaking loudly and Owen's tape fetish are these children's means of security. If Naomi speaks where no one can here her, it seems as though she is not in the other person's presence, which is symbolic of her heritage not really being a part of her. However, when she learns of her father and her "Mexican side," she can then feel confident in herself and speech assuredly. Similarly, Owen's obsession with tape is like a young child's security blanket. Without it he likely could not function. There is no explanation of why tape resonates with him, but it certainly gives him the confidence that Naomi's heritage gives her.
Teaching Connections: I think the lists that Naomi makes are very interesting. A teacher could have her students create similar lists of their own over a two-week period perhaps as a creative writing activity.
A teacher could also have students write a story about their culture and discuss things that they might need to explain to someone from Mexico, or another country, if they were to come here. They could also interview an ELL student and discover what insight that person might have on this assignment regarding what they or their parents found unusual when they moved here.
Another assignment could be for the students to look at the questions in the back of the book answered by the author and, before reading her responses, predict her answers to these questions.
One could also have her students write an essay about the importance of heritage to a person's life and incorporate examples from this book and their own lives as well.
(Image retrieved from http://a1055.g.akamai.net/f/1055/1401/5h/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/13100000/13101487.JPG on 28 April 2008)
Written by: Pam Muños Ryan
Cover Illustrations by: Marijka Kostiw
Published by Scholastic, Inc. in NY in 2004
Genre: Realistic Fiction (Multicultural Work)
Ages: Grades 3-5
Summary: In this book a young girl named Naomi lived with her crippled brother and great-grandmother in an Airstream trailer they call "Baby Beluga." Naomi struggles with the lack of knowledge she has of her heritage. She knows barely anything about her Mexican father and does not remember her mother at the time the novel begins. After a visit from her mother, who took the children from their father when they were very young and basically gave them to her grandmother to raise, Naomi learns that she is very content to live with her great-grandmother. Naomi's mother "Skyla" is not what one would call a good mother. She only decides that she wants to take Naomi with her so that she can babysit for her boyfriend Clive, who has a younger daughter. She does not want to care for her crippled son at all! In the end, Naomi learns who she is through an impromptu visit to Mexico to find her father. She finally finds her voice, both literally and figuratively.
Response: One thing I really liked about this book were the lists Naomi always made. I have to make lists all the time so that I remember to do things, but I sometimes make lists, just like Naomi, to have a keepsake of memories. I particularly like Naomi's "List of Splendid Words." I think this resonates with me perhaps because I always make a word list when I read of words that I find interesting, etc.
I also like the cultural integration in this book. Nothing is ever very explicit, which is great for young readers, so they will not feel as though they are being taught. Many times throughout the book the author will have the characters speak Spanish and then repeat themselves in English so the audience understands what the characters are saying. English-speakers can learn several Spanish words, just by reading the book. They can also learn about many Mexican customs, such as making "cranberry sauce with jalapeño peppers" (91), the juice in Mexico that "tasted like a punch but with cinnamon" (148), the many types of foods they eat and drinks they drink, such as "quesillo[s],...mole,...[and] piña coco" (157), Señora de la Soledad, whom sailors and fishermen "ask..for assistance. She s part of Oxaca" (225), the piñatas that they children break and then run through the streets collecting the "peanuts, small oranges, and sugarcane that spilled from their clay tummies" (186), Las Posadas, the night when neighbors go "walking through the streets, knocking on doors and pretending to look for shelter, just like Mary and Joseph did in Bethlehem (176), and La Noche de los Rábanos, where people gather together to make all kinds of creations out of radishes for competition. These cultural elements and traditions are typical of the Mexican people, so the author's interpretation is authentic.
I feel that Pam Muños Ryan does have a personal connection to and presents an insider's perspective of the Mexican culture. Upon viewing her website I discovered that she grew up in California, so she was exposed to many traditions of Mexican-Americans during her childhood; thus, she would know much about their culture and be able to reflect on that in her novels. she also has a very mixed-racial heritage, being Mexican, Spanish, Italian, Basque, and American, so she is very culturally aware and brings her knowledge into her books. This is one element that makes her work very authentic, which is one characteristic of good multicultural literature.
This work does deal minutely with the stereotype that all Mexicans are doing badly in their country and want to migrate to America. This work absolutely dispels that because of Naomi's father, Santiago. One of the reasons his family was split apart was because he wanted to remain in Mexico. He says "Much of my money comes from my carvings, which are only sold in Oaxaca. My work, it is here" (223). He makes his living fishing and needs the Mexican coast on which to do that as well. Not everyone is poor in Mexico as the stereotype might suggest. It also shows that Mexicans are very family-oriented, often living in large extended families. Mexicans have a culture that is very unique to them and where they live, etc, but even among those differences, one can still find many similarities to our own culture, the importance of family, as stated above, the importance of traditions, such as Las Posadas, and the importance of heritage. Sometimes Americans perceive Mexicans in a negative light often because we cannot see past the language barrier and the fact that many of them come to America. In reality, they probably want to understand us as much as we wish we could understand them and they come here to work because they need to support their families, something we should admire. Although Santiago was not keen on leaving his life in Mexico, it seemed as though he would do that to be with his family, but at the end of the novel, he remains in his own country, but at least he will now have a connection to his children and will see them occationally.
This work also proves to be an excellent multicultural work because the setting ans characters are real and they would be interesting to many readers. It also deals with the difficult topic of Naomi and Owen's situation and allows readers to view the situation from many perspectives--the children's, Gram's, Skyla and Clive's, and the judge's.
I love the similes in this work! They create such vivid images in my mind about what hey author is describing. For example, Naomi says that Spanish words "felt like marbles moving around in [her] mouth" (35), Gram's crying was so upsetting that her "insides wobbled as if [she were] standing on a three-story roof looking down" (39), when she was frightened in the trailer park on night, she recalls having "a troublesome feeling tipto[ing] after [her] like a lurking shadow" (87). Naomi also says that the one aspect of her life that was "as clear as a vinegar-shined window" (137) was that her place was with Owen and Gram. Furthermore, about the lion she created out of a radish for the competition, she says that its mane was "like a majestic sunshine" (202). Reading these words I can imagine all of these images and the comparisons the author makes; her attention to detail is wonderful!
I think Naomi's lack of speaking loudly and Owen's tape fetish are these children's means of security. If Naomi speaks where no one can here her, it seems as though she is not in the other person's presence, which is symbolic of her heritage not really being a part of her. However, when she learns of her father and her "Mexican side," she can then feel confident in herself and speech assuredly. Similarly, Owen's obsession with tape is like a young child's security blanket. Without it he likely could not function. There is no explanation of why tape resonates with him, but it certainly gives him the confidence that Naomi's heritage gives her.
Teaching Connections: I think the lists that Naomi makes are very interesting. A teacher could have her students create similar lists of their own over a two-week period perhaps as a creative writing activity.
A teacher could also have students write a story about their culture and discuss things that they might need to explain to someone from Mexico, or another country, if they were to come here. They could also interview an ELL student and discover what insight that person might have on this assignment regarding what they or their parents found unusual when they moved here.
Another assignment could be for the students to look at the questions in the back of the book answered by the author and, before reading her responses, predict her answers to these questions.
One could also have her students write an essay about the importance of heritage to a person's life and incorporate examples from this book and their own lives as well.
(Image retrieved from http://a1055.g.akamai.net/f/1055/1401/5h/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/13100000/13101487.JPG on 28 April 2008)
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