My Name is Maria Isabel

My Name is Maria Isabel

by Alma Flor Ada

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Synopsis:  For Maria Isabel Salazar Lopez, the hardest thing about being the new girl in school is that the teacher doesn't call her by her real name.  "We already have two Marias in this class," says her teacher.  "Why don't we call you Mary instead?"

But Maria Isabel has been named for her Papa's mother and for Chabela, her beloved Puerto Rican grandmother.  Can she find a way to make her teacher see that if she loses her name, she's lost the most important part of herself?

from the book jacket

Review:  This is a very basic chapter book that is very short and simple.  Maria Isabel wants to be called Maria Isabel but her teacher names her Mary and gets very angry when Maria Isabel doesn't answer to the name Mary.  Maria Isabel misses out on opportunities because the teacher doesn't use her real name.  This book just made me angry because the teacher was portrayed in such negative light but rightly so because the teacher had no patience for Maria Isabel.  I was angry reading this because as a teacher I would never disrespect a student by calling the student a different name or mispronouncing their name and I know every teacher in my school would do the same thing.  I wanted so much more from this book-more depth, more feelings, more explanations but this book is intended for a much younger audience.  I feel that this book would be appropriate for 2nd and 3rd graders but no higher.

Rating: 3 stars