Becoming Naomi Leon (Pam Munoz Ryan)
The second choice for the Book Trail online club, this book is an incredible departure from our last dense and incredibly intellectual first book, Housekeeping. Instead of dragging by, this one flew. Of course, a great deal of its aerodynamics stems from the fact that its a young adult novel — not that such a designation is a bad thing — geared for younger readers. There has been a resurgence in young adult fiction of late, thanks partially to the ever-present Harry Potter books (which, aside from the first volume, I don’t follow. Sorry, Heather). Quality writing is no longer geared just for adults, and that’s a fabulous thing. Why should kids read if all they have to read isn’t, well, good?
This is the story of the title character, Naomi, who lives with her great grandmother and her brother Owen, who is whip-crack smart but suffers some physical birth defects. The girl’s parents, long absent, become a force again in her life and circumstances cause Naomi to step outside her elementary existence to find what it means to be happy in a complicated world. It’s this complicated world that I was enamored with in the novel.
Instead of Christopher Robin and his 100 Acre Wood or the privileged, upper class boy in the Velveteen Rabbit, among other rather antiquated figure of kids’ fiction, this book is about our modern world. A young girl deals with her mixed heritage, a mother who has been in and out of rehab, an aging guardian who some think isn’t young enough to raise a family again. I was refreshed to see a novel set in a trailer park, that deals with custody issues and physical deformities. That’s what kids have handed to them in today’s world often, and they need a heroine who they can relate to on that level. The author tells a story of hope without ever talking down or resorting to obvious cliques.
Even though I appreciated the novel only on a young adult level (in other words, I wouldn’t have picked it up if not for the book club), it was a breath of fresh air, talking about controversial issues that grown-ups sometimes shy away in a way that speaks to adults and children alike. I hope every girl (or boy, I suppose) who reads it can see that finding their voice — their inner Lion (or Leon in Spanish) — is a noble and attainable feat of bravery.