Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal

Title: Alma and How She Got Her Name 

Genre: Fiction

Author: Juana Martinez-Neal 

Illustrator: Juana Martinez-Neal

Major Awards: Caldecott Honor Book 

Age group: 4 to 8 years 

 

Summary: 

This beautiful story written and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal is how Alma got her long name. She decides to ask her dad how she got her name, and she finds out that she got her names after her grandmother, her great-grandmother, her grandfather, her great-aunt, and her other grandmother. After listening to how she got her name, Alma realizes that her name is just right for her. 

Evaluation: 

Appropriate grade levels would be Preschool to 3^rd grade. 

I loved the illustrations in this book. The black illustrations with a little pop of color were so beautiful. I love how simple yet so detailed her illustrations are. 

I would definitely use this picture book in my classroom because I love the message of the story. I can see myself using this picture book for like the first day of school and ask my students to create a drawing of their name and write about how they got their name. If the student doesn’t know, then they could just write about where they are from or where their family comes from.