your name is a song by jamilah thompkins bigelow

This important book is a love letter to all those children whose names get stuck in their teachers' mouths and for all of us who have ever had trouble pronouncing the names of others. I sincerely recommend it to parents, teachers, and librarians everywhere. The picture book can also be used as a springboard to discuss racism in language and in a context younger kids can understand. It will be wildly popular during storytime once storytimes are back. YOUR NAME IS A SONG deserves to be read out loud, to be sung, with claps and trills. The art is beautiful and the language is alive. It shows the bond between a parent and child and it addresses pertinent issues a POC child might be going through. YOUR NAME IS A SONG is lush, poetic, and profound. This book will make two kinds of people very uncomfortable: those who intentionally disrespect names and those who can't be bothered to look up the pronunciations of names because 'they're too hard.' If you've read my first book, you may realize how much I revere the power of names. The picture book is an homage to names and to the cultures these names honour. When I read YOUR NAME IS A SONG, I thought of 17 year old Nafiza who grimaced her way through that first class.

So I allowed them to make fun of my name. No language in which to express the hurt I felt. I'm ashamed to say that at that moment I laughed because what else could I do? I had no confidence to assert myself. He grinned as if he had told a marvellously funny joke and looked at me as if expecting me to partake in the hilarity. Unsurprisingly, everyone in the class laughed at my name. I was in grade twelve, completely out of my depth in a new country among strange people, thousands of kilometres away from everyone and everything familiar to me.

Product dimensions - 9.9' W x 9.9' H x 0.On my first day in school in Canada, the teacher told the kids in class that my name was 'Napija' despite me telling him my name very carefully before class started.

Additionally, readers can use a listed link to access an online video of the author pronouncing all the names in the book. The 'Glossary of Names' lists each name's meaning, origin, and pronunciation. Your Name is a Song includes back matter perfect for parents, educators, caregivers, and young readers who want to learn more about the names featured in the story. Your Name is a Song is a celebration to remind all of us about the beauty, history, and magic behind names. Empowered by this newfound understanding, the young girl is ready to return the next day to share her knowledge with her class. In response, the girl's mother teaches her about the musicality of African, Asian, Black-American, Latinx, and Middle Eastern names on their lyrical walk home through the city. Frustrated by a day full of teachers and classmates mispronouncing her beautiful name, a little girl tells her mother she never wants to come back to school.

Your name is a song by jamilah thompkins bigelow