Becoming Naomi Leon

Ryan, Pam Munoz. 2004. BECOMING NAOMI LEON. New York: Scholastic.

BECOMING NAOMI LEON tells of Naomi Leon Outlaw’s struggle to create an identity while caring for her younger brother, Owen, and coping with the reappearance of a mother that abandoned her and Owen seven years prior. Trying to keep Naomi and Owen from being returned to their mother, Gram takes the kids to find their long-lost father in Mexico through a journey of hope, love, and truth. This story will captivate the readers as Ryan does an excellent job of realistically and compassionately confronting issues that many children face today: abandonment by a parent, need for social status at school, and remaining loyal to your family, while showing how kids will pull inside or turn to other activities such list making or soap carving to face the problems life throws at them. With fresh and “real” dialog between the students at school and the family members, students will connect to Naomi as she struggles to “fit in” with the other kids at school and try to please a mother that really does not care about her and Owen. The “happily ever after” ending may lack in realism, but the reader will approve of the ending as a sign of hope in a difficult situation.