Becoming Naomi Leon by Ryan

From the Publisher

From the award-winning author of ESPERANZA RISING comes this riveting novel about family and identity that will leave a deep impression on your heart.

Publishers Weekly

Fifth-grader Naomi's great-grandmother has been a loving guardian for Naomi and her brother since their mother abandoned them seven years before; now she has suddenly reappeared. In a starred review, PW called this "a tender tale about family love and loyalty." Ages 8-12. (Dec.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Carol Raker Collins, Ph.D. - Children's Literature

Naomi, half Mexican and half Oklahoman, has many names; but by the end of the book she truly grows into the lioness name. A victim of child abuse by her alcoholic mother, Naomi suffered from selective mutism until her great grandmother took her and her deformed brother Owen under her wing. After seven years of proper care and medical attention, the 11-year-old girl and the 8-year-old boy are suddenly visited by their long-absent mother. As Gran might say, the good and the bad of it is that they have a mother again but she is still trouble. Naomi manages to stand up to her mother's slaps and threats this time around and to lay the groundwork for escape. Gran, Mexican-American friends, and the children run away in a trailer to Mexico to seek the kids' Mexican father. Naomi discovers she has always been like her father in looks and in her amazing talent for carving. This becomes apparent in the Night of the Radishes carving contest in Oaxaca, Mexico. A wonderful reunion with her dad gives Naomi the voice to speak out against her mother in court, once Gran and the kids return to the States. Naomi is no longer "nobody special" in the fifth grade, too, when her soap carvings are displayed in the school library. The book treats very serious subjects (child abuse and physical handicaps) with grace and humor. The girl's narration, often in a language of metaphor, both amuses and wrings the heart. 2004, Scholastic Press, Ages 10 to 12.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-Naomi Soledad Leon Outlaw lives with younger brother Owen and her fiercely practical Gram in a trailer park in California in this novel by Pam Munoz (Scholastic, 2004). An unpopular fifth grader, she spends lots of time in the library with the other outcasts and the kind librarian. Naomi's talent is carving objects out of soap. After being gone for seven years, her mother shows up one day with a scary boyfriend, Clive. Gram lets the children know that their mother, Terri Lynn, has always been wild and irresponsible. They're worried that she will assert her parental rights and take the children away. Naomi is insecure and particularly susceptible to her mother's attention. Owen is essentially ignored by Terri Lynn because he has some physical deformities, but Clive thinks he could use Owen's deformities to make money gambling. Gram, the neighbors, and the children go to Oaxaca to find the children's father and get him to sign papers making Gram their guardian. Their dad is thrilled to see them, and Naomi learns that her talent for soap carving is inherited from her father. This deeply moving story is expressively and sympathetically narrated by Annie Kozuch. Characterization is excellent and listeners will be happy that Naomi finds confidence, love, and security. A good choice for most collections.-B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

First-person narrator Naomi Len Outlaw and her bright, physically lopsided little brother Owen feel safe in the routines of life in Lemon Grove, California, with great-grandmother Gram. Naomi, a soft-voiced list-maker and word-collector, is also a gifted soap-carver-something inherited, it turns out, from the Mexican father from whom she and Owen were separated as small children. The unexpected arrival of Naomi's long-absent mother throws everything off balance. The troubled young woman's difficulties threaten to overturn the security Gram has worked to provide for Naomi and Owen. With friends' help, Gram takes the children to Oaxaca City to find their father and gain his support in her custody appeal. Here they are immersed in a world of warmth and friendship, where Naomi's longing to meet the father she dimly remembers intensifies. The annual December radish-carving festival gives Naomi's creativity a chance to shine and makes the perfect setting for a reunion. Naomi's matter-of-fact narrative is suffused with her worries and hopes, along with her protective love for her brother and great-grandmother. Ryan's sure-handed storytelling and affection for her characters convey a clear sense of Naomi's triumph, as she becomes "who I was meant to be." (Fiction. 10-14)First printing of 50,000

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