5 stars
A wonderful book with lush illustrations and a powerful message. Whether you have a name that’s deemed hard-to-pronounce by others or not, this is a great read and learning opportunity.
At first, Mirha is excited for her first day of school. But when no one pronounces her name right, she feels unimportant. With the help of her mother, she sees that her name makes her special and gains the confidence she needs to correct others when they mispronounce her name. As someone who was taught to ignore it when someone mispronounced my name for the sake of politeness, I love the empowering message of correcting others and making sure they know how to pronounce your name.
Mirha’s class also includes children with Japanese and Irish names, showing the importance of not only making sure others know how to pronounce your name, but also making sure you pronounce other’s names correctly.
The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous with fantastic details. The use of color is fantastic and I really enjoyed the cute style. I also love all the diversity shown. Not only do the children have different skin tones, hair colors, and features, there is also a child in a wheelchair and a child with a hearing aid.
A good book to pair with practice on how to correct people when they make a mistake and how to approach a situation where you’re unsure how to pronounce someone’s name.
What a great read and a beautiful book. Already seeking out more illustrated by Syed.