Becoming Naomi Leon

"THE POWER OF LOVE"



Author: Ryan, Pam Muno
Publisher Scholastic, Inc., 2004
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Multicultural
Age:4th and up


Summary: This book is about a brave and courageous little girl by the name of Naomi Soledad Leon Outlaw. Naomi lives with her relative whom she calls Gram and her younger brother Owen, who was born with a birth defect. They live in a trailer which they call Baby Beluga in Lemon Tree, CA. When they were young their mother “Skyla” dropped them off and really wanted nothing to do with them. She struggled with a mental disorder, alcoholism and pure selfishness. Naomi tells the story from her point of view and shares her issues with growing up and finding her self. She is a mixed child, her mother is American and her father is Hispanic. She struggles with this at school because she is “different” than the other kids her age. She is a very shy girl who appreciates everyone around her. Her great grandmother has taught her to be a strong young girl and to have such a positive outlook on life. Naomies little brother Owen was born with a deformity and has gone through several grueling surgeries to try and correct it. He is too is not accepted at school, and the boys make fun of him and call him a retard. He finds comfort in wearing tape on his shirt. One day their mother “Skyla” shows up at their door all the sudden wanting to be a part of Naomis life. Just Naomi, not Owen. She promises that she is not trying to take the children and that she just wants to get to know them. She buys all these gifts for Naomi, trying to buy her love. She never gives Owen any attention, and is very turned off by his deformity. She says that all of her money comes from her boyfriend, Clive. One day Skyla comes and says that she is going to take Naomi to live with her in Las Vegas. Naomi is very scared because her mother has hit her before and Naomi knows what kind of person she is inside. Gram decides to take the trailer and go on a vacation to Mexico so that Naomi and Owen can meet their father, and hopefully get a letter of recommendation from the court so that the children can remain in Grams care. Naomi finally gets to meet her father, and really bonds with him. After their visit they head back to California to deal with the court. They end up fighting in court, and eventually winning against their mother. This is a story of a brave little girl and her realization that there are going to many bumps in the road in life.

RESPONSE: This was an absolutely WONDERFUL book. I had no idea what I was going to be reading about when I first picked this book up because I like the surprise, but this really has become a book that has moved me. I loved everything about this book, the characters, the setting and the message at the end of the book.

There was something about every one of these characters that I felt like I could relate to. Naomi was such a sweet, shy girl who genuinely cared about people. I was always the shy kid in school and never talked much, and was always ridiculed because of it so I can definitely relate to her on this level. I felt like Naomi was someone that I could really look up to. She was dealing with so much in her life but she remained calm, and true to herself. It didn’t really bother her what other people thought about her, she just brushed it off and I really respected that. The end of the book was really powerful for me. “It was like a stampede crashed through the wall in front of me. No , I said again, and slowly began telling the story from the beginning. How Gram was widow and lost her only daughter…” “As if a dam had burst, I couldn’t stop the rush of words.” This was really powerful because I feel like she held so much in for so long and finally she let it all go.

I really loved Owens character as well. The poor child had dealt with so much but still continued to be strong. He had faced several surgeries which I am sure were tough for him. He faced being made fun of at school, and even his own mother not accepting him. It really made me smile when the kids at school were making fun of him and they ripped his tape off of his shirt and he fell down and started convulsing and it really scared his classmates. He did this on purpose, to play a joke on them even though they are so mean to him. He could have said so many hurtful things to those kids but he didn’t. It was so hard for me to sit and read about how Skyla did not accept him. Right in front of his face she said that she did not want him, and instead of taking it to heart he let it slide off of his shoulders, he knew that Gram loved him and that is all that matters.

Do the author and illustrator present authentic perspectives?
Is the culture portrayed multi-dimensionally?
Are the cultural details naturally integrated?
Are details accurate and is the interpretation current?
Is language used authentically?

I think that this book possessed all of these qualities. The author did a wonderful job really researching the places and the events that took place. You really get a feel for the Mexican culture, especially in the second half of the book when they travel to Mexico. Noche De Rabanos is a celebration where radishes are carved to create figures or scenes. The book did an awesome job teaching the reader about different activities that the Mexican people participate in. http://www.tomzap.com/radishes.html Here is a link I found about more information on this festival. The author also introduces many Hispanic foods like pan dulce, which is sweet bread and tortillas. The author uses authentic language throughout the book. “ I wore a new white blouse with puffed sleeves that Gram had bought at el Mercado.” “Manana? Asked Rueben.” “Superb Spanish Words 1.Jalatlaco 2.Mercado 3.Quesillo 4. Mole 5. Pina Coco.” 157. Naomi is constantly trying to learn Spanish whenever she visits Mexico and is intrigued by its culture, especially since she loves carving so much. I thought that the author did a great job providing the audience with an authentic perspective. When I was reading I felt like I was Naomi Leon and I was experiencing everything that she was going through. The details are also accurate, in the back of the book there is an Author Question section, and the author chose real places, real events and even Naomi Leon is a real persons name.



Teaching Ideas: I think that this would be a great book to use in the classroom when learning about different cultures. It would be fun to bring in some of the foods that they talk about in the book and compare and contrast between American dishes and Mexican dishes. Also it would be a lot of fun to have a day of soap carving. There is a section in the book that give you directions on how to do it. After reading about the soap carving I thought “Wow, that would be fun!”


Websites for research:

http://www.ci.lemon-grove.ca.us/jobs.asp
http://www.tomzap.com/radishes.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_11287_carve-soap-shapes.html
http://oaxaca-travel.com/