Maria Wen Adcock’s My Name is Ai Lin (9781534113114, $18.99) receives engaging illustrations by Yu Ting Cheng as it explores Ai Lin’s ability to educate her fellow classmates on how to pronounce her name. Despite the temptation to pick an easier name to make them happy, Ai Lin is determined to preserve the significance of her Chinese name and heritage. This involves the risky venture of sharing her family’s history and traditions with her new classmates. A fine story of cultural identity, fitting in, making choices, and teaching others evolves, which will be perfect for picture book readers and adults seeking to transmit information about other cultures, words, heritage, and values.

A girl explains her name’s pronunciation and significance to her new classmates. Ai Lin is the only Asian-featured child in a classroom of children with many other shades of skin and hair colors. On the first day of school, the other kids don’t know how to say her name. “Island?” “Eileen?” they ask. “No,” Ai Lin replies, correcting their pronunciation. They persist. “Can we just call you Eileen?” Ai Lin then explains why her name is not to be changed; it is her heritage, carrying the hopes and dreams of her elders. She describes how each part of her name has a meaning. “Ai” means “love,” like warm hugs from Mama, and “Lin” means “gem,” precious and unique the way Baba sees her. Her sister also has a meaningful name, Ai Mei. “Ai” is for “love,” “just like me… It’s what I feel when I say her name.” “Mei” means “rose,” and the two sisters together are a lovely gem and a lovely rose. By the end of her explanation, the other children are listening intently and, of course, get her name exactly right the next day. Cheng’s sweet illustrations in a muted yet colorful palette convey Ai Lin’s childlike perspective of her classmates and her understanding of herself, her family, and her heritage. An empowering celebration of identity. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)

Ai Lin has to teach her classmates how to say her name properly. When she started school, the kids said American words and names instead of her name. She carefully explains the meaning of her name and how it fits into her culture. Ai Lin does a beautiful job with the explanations and the lovely, muted artwork shows her loving family and her joy at being a respected part of the school community. This is an excellent book for the beginning of the school year and will pair well with other books about names like Kevin Henkes’s Chrysanthemum or Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow’s Your Name is a Song. With a very light touch, it offers discussion points on respect for others, cultural traditions, and the how and why parents choose names. The author’s notes about her own experiences with her name as well as the Chinese characters for the names in the book are a nice addition. VERDICT: This charming book about a girl navigating new situations belongs in every collection.

PreS-Gr 3–Ai Lin has to teach her classmates how to say her name properly. When she started school, the kids said American words and names instead of her name. She carefully explains the meaning of her name and how it fits into her culture. Ai Lin does a beautiful job with the explanations and the lovely, muted artwork shows her loving family and her joy at being a respected part of the school community. This is an excellent book for the beginning of the school year and will pair well with other books about names like Kevin Henkes’s Chrysanthemum or Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow’s Your Name is a Song. With a very light touch, it offers discussion points on respect for others, cultural traditions, and the how and why parents choose names. The author’s notes about her own experiences with her name as well as the Chinese characters for the names in the book are a nice addition.VERDICT This charming book about a girl navigating new situations belongs in every collection.