Three Names of Me - a book review

Summertime at our house includes trips to the library, and the kids were quick to get that started this year.  We do not let them visit the public library during the school year because it just gets too confusing with school library books and everything else we have to do.  However, Julia's school requires a very intense summer reading program (70 hours), so the library in the summer is a must!

Even though it is not yet summer for me, we did visit the library last night, and I just happened to find this book -Three Names of Me by Mary Cummings and illustrated by Lin Wang.  The book is written from the perspective of a child who was adopted from China.  She talks about her three names, the name she does not remember whispered to her by the mother she can't remember, the name given to her by her nannies, and the name she received from her American parents.  I actually read the book in the library before bringing it home and was a little nervous about sharing it with Wyatt and Julia.  I thought it might provoke some questions or discomfort in them as they would come face to face with the fact that they have a history that none of us knows.  However, Julia loved the book and wanted it read again (she did not want to read it initially).  Wyatt seemed rather unimpressed - no robots, fast cars, or battles - ah, boys.  I loved the book and thought the simple text explored family, heritage, and the simple things in life quite eloquently, and I found the illustrations to be striking as well.  I know that some of my faithful blogging friends are the parents of Chinese children, so I felt compelled to share this little jewel of a book  - very simple and yet poignant.

This reminds me of how I tore through Amy Tan's works before traveling to China for Julia.  She is an impressive author, and I hope to revisit her works this summer.  Andy gets to travel to China this summer...how I wish the rest of us could go too.