Becoming Naomi Leon

This is an incredible book and you need to read it. I think this book is inspiring for young boys and girls because it’s about standing up for yourself and discovering what you’re capable of. I read this in third grade after reading Pam Munoz Ryan’s other masterpiece, Esperanza Rising. Needless to say, it has stuck with me the last fifteen years. Please read this book.

This book is about a girl named Naomi Outlaw who's parents are divorced and she lives with her grandmother in a trailer park. They named their trailer baby beluga. After seven years Naomi and her brother Owen's mother comes back. She changes her name has a boyfriend and goes to rehab centers. Naomi's mother wants to run off to Las Vegas with her boyfriend stepdaughter and Naomi. Naomi doesn't want to go she wants to stay with her brother who has medical disability. They go to Mexico to find their father and meet family members they've never before. Naomi gets to become a Leon animal carver.

I started reading this book because I was bored, but it turned out helping me a lot. I started reading this when my dad, who I haven't seen since I was 3, was trying to get me to see him. There was a restraining order and he was going through the court to see me. Because of him and the court I had to go to therapy. It was hard to let my feelings out because I hate his guts, but I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to say something like that strate out. I would tell my mom who knew that I felt that way, but nobody else. I don't like to hurt people, like Naomi didn't. My dad thought it was my mom telling me to say i hated him. I would repeat over and over in my head what i would say if i was made to see him. "I hate you! Go to hell!" That's what i would say. I didn't have to testify like Naomi, but when i shared my feelings it felt like there was millions of people watching. I used to cry about him not wanting me, now i'm the one who doesn't want him. While reading this book, i cried a lot. probably more than others because i knew what she was going through. Naomi is strong and anyone else whos been her situation are also strong. Everyone wishes they could make everyone happy, but sometimes you can't and sometimes you have to do what right for you. I think that, along with being strong, doing what's right for you is the messege in this book.

"Esperanza Rising" was okay. It wasn't the best book I'd ever read, nor did it leave an indelible mark on my heart and mind. After reading it through I felt that author Pam Munoz Ryan was a fine n' dandy writer, but that it was probably unlikely that she'd produce a book that would really make me sit up and take notice. When I start reading a children's book with a mild prejudice already established in my mind (as there was when I picked up "Becoming Naomi Leon") it takes remarkably good writing to bash that prejudice into soft mushy pulp. And bash this book did. By its end I was flabbergasted. I went into this novel with the vague dread that it would read like so many other works of fiction that are ostensibly "good" for children. I worried that it would be beautifully written and dull as day old dishwater. Instead, it was interesting, bright, cheery, but with just enough reality and cynicism to make you feel that Naomi's fight was one worth battling out. In short, I've been completely seduced by "Becoming Naomi Leon". It is perhaps the underrated children's novel of 2004. Hands down. Naomi begins her book with the chilling statement that she can now point out the exact moment that her sense of peace and security began to unravel like those cartoons where a dog wearing a sweater gets a string from his shirt caught in some way. "Pretty soon the poor dog is bare to its skin, shivering, and all that had kept it warm is nothing more than a bedraggled string". And it all began the night her mother came to town. Naomi had been living a nice quiet life with her great-grandmother (or just Gram, as she calls her) and her little brother Owen. Owen has a slight birth defect that affects his neck and voice, but otherwise he's pretty much a certified genius. Both kids were abandoned years ago by their wayward mama Terri Lynn (self-renamed as Skyla), who has just as randomly swung into town to see them. More exactly, to see Naomi. With the firm belief that she is the rightful mother of her child (Owen's physical condition jars with her), Skyla has every intention of grabbing her daughter and dragging her to Las Vegas to take care of her boyfriend's young daughter. Naomi's fright is understandable, but fortunately her Gram is a force to be reckoned with. And before our heroine knows it, she's whisked away to Mexico to briefly escape her lunatic mother and to find her missing father, wherever he may be. Yeah, I know. It sounds a little heavy-handed. A mite bit unbelievable. A smidgen over-the-top. And with any other author, it would've been. Other reviewers of this book have complained, ludicrously, that Skyla is portrayed as almost too evil and that no such mother like this exists. Sure they do. They exist all the time. They just don't get very good press. And Skyla is beautifully tempered as a character. Some moments she's swimming in charm, buying her babies every pretty present she can think of. Other times she's slapping

Becoming Naomi Leon is one of the best children's books that I have read in many years. It is the touching story of a bi-cultural brother and sister abandoned by thier mother and living in their Grandmother's trailer named Baby Beluga in Lemon Tree, California. Naomi is a shy, quiet girl who carves soap into animals and makes lists. Owen is an FLK (Funny Looking Kid) who dreams of bicycles and wears tape on his clothes for comfort. Grandma is a fiesty, postive thinking, loving woman who tries her best to expose the children to their Mexican culture. They live in relative happiness until one day, their mother shows up. She devotes her time and gifts to Naomi, ignoring Owen in spite of his obvious desire to have her love. As Naomi's mother spends more time in Lemon Tree, her motives for coming to see her children become threatening and Grandma and the wonderful Mexican neighbors band together to protect the children. Becoming Naomi Leon is eloquent and moving story of an extended family, a mother that is a danger to her children, a hunt for a father that takes you to Oaxaca and the beauty there. It is simple and elegant; painful and sweet. This book will touch your heart and show you love in it's purest form. Pam Munoz Ryan has written an ageless and beautiful story that will stay with me for a very long time.

In Becoming Naomi León, Pam Muñoz Ryan treats readers to another beautifully written novel. Naomi León Soledad Outlaw is a shy and extremely quiet young girl, living in the suburbs of San Diego, California with her great-grandmother and her younger brother, Owen. When Naomi and Owen's mother comes back into the picture, she brings excitement, chaos and uncertainty. What follows is a suspenseful, sad and humorous journey as Naomi has to discover who she is and where she has comes from. Having read Ryan's Esperanza Rising, I was expecting a similar novel, but was pleasantly surprised by the change in tone, pace and characters. Owen is my favorite character, optimistic to the end with his FLK (Funny Looking Kid) label and his protective tape habits. Naomi is a character readers can truly empathize with and rejoice in her simple joys. And more than one of us could relate to her obsessive list making. The situations in this book are all too familiar in real life, but Ryan gives readers hope with a "fairy tale" ending, so to speak. A good novel to start discussion, Becoming Naomi León is well worth it and has become one of my favorite children's novels.