My Name is Wakawakaloch, written by Chana Stiefel, reviewed by Klaudia Janek

Student Reviewer: Vitoria B.
Summary: This picture book revolves around the story of a young girl named Wakawakaloch. More specifically, it focuses on the ways in which she overcomes the struggles she faces as a result of her seemingly complex name. In the beginning of the story, several settings (such as the playground, the classroom and the Club Club) reveal several examples of the places in which Wakawakaloch is angered by the mispronunciation of her name. When she returns home later that day, her parents confront Wakawakaloch on her frustration. She then asks to change her name to a simpler one, like “Gloop”. She also references the face that she can “...never find [a] T-shirt with [her] name on it”. After her Pa concluded that “...[Wakawakaloch had] lost her pebbles”, she was sent to Elder Mooch. This meeting was initially puzzling for the young girl, as she did not understand the elder’s words of advice: “The problem, my dear, is that you are forward thinker. You must be backwards seer too”. Not long after, Wakawakaloch began to understand the implications of Elder Mooch’s words of advice: she connected her name to that of her ancestor’s in order to appreciate its origin. After learning to love the name she once hated, Wakawakaloch opened her own Personalized T-shirt stand. Here, she was able to produce the things (such as uncommon names on shirts) that she wasn’t able to find before. The book ends with Wakawakaloch make a T-shirt for a little boy who had yet to learn how to love the name he was given.

Straight Talk for Librarians: This book can be used as a part of an English lesson to begin teaching students about literary elements such as plot, dialogue, tone, themes, character analysis, and climax. The book draws out many issues (such as insecurities that reside in children) that can be talked about and applied to students that relate to the discussed issues (such as those who also have an uncommon name that is hard for people to pronounce: this is very applicable in diverse school settings). Furthermore, the book may be used in an art class in order to show how emotions are demonstrated by the author’s depiction of characters and their facial expressions. Overall, multiple aspects of this picture book can be applied to teacher-lessons as they seek to embed basic principles into their students’ mindsets.