I really enjoyed this book and thought it had a strong message that a name is powerful and meaningful and not just something we call people. In Maria Isabel's case, her name represented all the important people in her life such as her granmothers and grandfather who all influenced her as well as her family. Maria Isabel Salazar Lopez was a name she was proud of and felt like a strong person when called that. I think in this fast paced world, we tend to focus on what will make OUR days easier for us and not take in to account the other persons feelings. In Maria Isabel's case, her teacher decided to call her Mary Lopez as it would help the teacher out since there were already two Marias in the class. The teacher did not know, but she had actually made Maria Isabel "wilt" much like the character Chrysanthemum in the book by Kevin Henkes. Maria Isabel was not able to "bloom" until she was able to express her feelings through her writing about her greatest wish which of course was to be called Maria Isabel Salazar Lopez! I love how in the end she is able to get the courage to express why she feels so strongly about her name, and wishes to be called by it.
2 comments:
I like how you compared Maria Isabel to Chrysanthemum and I totally agree with you! I hope that as a teacher we make an effort to find out what is the real issue instead of making our students "wilt."
When I read this book and the Name Jar, the first thing that I thought of was Chrysanthemum. I love that book. It would be a great idea to use all three of those books in the classroom, especially at the beginning of the year, to help students realize how important they are in a class. A name is a very big deal to children and these books would be great to share since they all of a different cultural background.
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