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Title details for Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Muñoz Ryan - Available

Becoming Naomi Leon

by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Annie Kozuch
Audiobook
3 of 3 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
3 of 3 copies available
"I always thought that the biggest trial in my life was my name, Naomi Guadalupe Zamora Outlaw, but little did I know that it was the least of my problems, or that someday I would live up to it."
One evening, everything Naomi has known with Gram and her little brother begins to unravel. Naomi's mother wants to kidnap her. Gram is willing to go to the end of the earth to save Naomi, but will that be enough? A quiet life in Lemon Tree, California, becomes a runaway journey to find an estranged father in exotic Oaxaca, Mexico.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    October 12, 2004

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739344705
      • File size: 123738 KB
      • Duration: 04:17:47

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 830
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Naomi's tale is one of becoming, of finding one's heritage, of discovering one's true talent while overcoming the odds of abandonment, anxiety, and disappointment. This is also a story of strength, devotion and the search for family. One highlight is the description of the Radish Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico, which Naomi, her brother, Owen, and their extended family visit from their home in Lemon Tree, California. The fully voiced reading by Annie Kozuch is serviceable, although several of the characters have exaggerated pitch and tone. Even though some of the voices are overdone, Kozuch's reading keeps the story on track. L.D.H. 2005 YALSA Selection (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from September 13, 2004
      Fifth-grader Naomi's great-grandmother has been a loving guardian for Naomi and Owen, her handicapped brother, since their mother divorced their father and abandoned them in Lemon Tree, Calif., seven years before. When the children's mother, Skyla, makes a sudden reappearance, she wants Naomi to leave Gram and Owen to move to Las Vegas—and Gram fears that Skyla and her new boyfriend have ulterior motives. "What locked the possibility of catastrophe in my mind, was that Gram and Fabiola were going to miss Wheel of Fortune
      , and that
      was going to mess up their 744 nights-in-a-row record," Naomi thinks. Feisty Gram takes action: she and Fabiola and her husband, who hail from Oaxaca City, Mexico, and who knew the children's father, take the children and embark on an odyssey of sorts, in search of their father at Oaxaca's annual radish-carving festival. Once again, Ryan (Esperanza Rising
      ) crystallizes the essence of settings and characters through potent, economic prose. Through Naomi's first-person narration, the author gently captures the girl's simultaneous attraction to and wariness of her mother with Naomi's first impression: "I couldn't take my eyes off her lipstick. It was the exact same color as her hair and went up and down in a perfect rounded M
      on her top lip." And the heroine's skill with carving connects her to her father long before they finally meet. Sharing her protagonist's love of language, artistic sensibility and keen sensitivity, Ryan creates a tender tale about family love and loyalty. Ages 8-12.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:830
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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