Reviews

Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan

jamiehandy's review against another edition

4.0

After quickly reading Paint the Wind, I remembered that this book was already on a bookshelf in the basement. I grabbed it and 2 hours later had finished it. Again, a very enjoyable book. 2 books by the same author in the same day and you start to notice some similarities. Each main character is "orphaned" -- in Paint the Wind the parents are dead. In this book the parents are not dead but have abandoned her. In Esperanza rising the father is murdered at the beginning but the mother is still there. All three books follow some migration that the main character must endure to grow. Despite the similarites, all three books have things that are unique to them and I would reccommend all 3. This book deals with some very hard topics -- an alcoholic mothers, a drug addict mother, and the desire all kids have to want their parents to love them.

lcbatten's review against another edition

5.0

LOVED this book, and it's main character. Naomi is a beautiful character whose journey to strength is inspiring for any age. It also made me want to visit Oaxaca at Christmas!

greaydean's review against another edition

4.0

Despite this being written for fourth graders, I still wept a number of times. It is a very sweet story filled with the harsh realities which abound in our society of divorce. The writer did a great job of giving complexity and sticking to the story. I particularly enjoyed the whole Mexico trip where we all get a little taste of Oaxaca.

smurf2416's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

jrblack321's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

mbsoya_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

tessakris's review against another edition

5.0

Such a good one! I’m excited to add this to my list of book report options for my Spanish students. I love seeing the development of Naomi as she navigates challenging situations. Learning more about Las Posadas and La Noche de los Rábanos was very interesting as well!

lcvanoss's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

dude_watchin_with_the_brontes's review against another edition

4.0

I picked this book up at a free library a while ago because of the title. I'm not going to lie, there's a thrill in reading your name in a book, over and over - something that I have experienced maybe three times in my life.

It's a beautiful book. I think Muñoz Ryan would have been one of my favorite authors as a kid, up there with Sharon Creech.

beths0103's review against another edition

4.0

After reading [b:Esperanza Rising|89763|Esperanza Rising|Pam Muñoz Ryan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171163644s/89763.jpg|1510338], I knew that I wanted to read another book by Pam Munoz Ryan. As with Esperanza, Ryan creates yet another female protagonist in Naomithat you just want to hug and tell her everything will be OK.

I loved the characters in this book. I even loved the characters I hated. That is, I loved that I hated them so much. That meant that Ryan did a great job at tugging her readers' emotions. And Owen and Gram were equally as lovable as Skyla was detestable.