August 20, 2020

YOUR NAME IS A SONG

Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and Luisa Uribe celebrates the musicality and history of names.
A young girl named Kora is on the verge of tears with frustration after enduring another day at school where classmates and teachers can't pronounce her name. But when she shares this frustration with her mom, her mom teaches her to find the musical lyricism in her own name and to make it a song for others to sing. Names come from dreamers and fire and the heart, and if Kora can turn her name into a song, she can share it with others who will know the tune of her name.

The book opens with a wordless spread, and it's in this quiet moment that readers familiarize themselves with the tone of the book. We see and feel the girl's frustration even before she says it out loud to her mom. To make the illustrations feel welcoming despite the challenges and to emphasize Thompkins-Bigelow's gentle voice, Uribe uses a wide variety of fairly muted colors, and she employs curvy lines to mimic the sound waves we see when Kora's mom sings. The moments where Kora explores dreamers and fire and heart, as well as the moment where she sings her name, are all characterized by warm, bright colors.
Your Name Is a Song published last month from The Innovation Press



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2 comments:

  1. Amazing Blog! The interviews are very inspiring. I love the variety of books and the care for diversity/social integration. Thank you so much for your work.

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  2. Very delayed in responding here, but thank you for your comment, Julia -- I really appreciate it!!

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