Your Name is a Song

by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, illustrated by Luisa Uribe

40 pages, preschool to 3 years; published 2020 by The Innovation Press

What a wonderful story for children feeling unseen and unimportant. It all starts with your name. For many kids, this initial identity marker comes with a great burden when your classmates, and even your teachers, can’t pronounce it. Thompkins-Bigelow weaves a refreshing tale about the beauty, rhythm, and creativity of personal names. Your Name is a Song is a book I can deeply relate to having grown up with repeated misspellings and mispronunciations of my first and last name. Your name is important, and even more important is that the people around you take the time to get it right. I hope this book starts the conversation and helps more children to feel accepted. 

Check out this great video of proper name pronunciations from the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmXqJGherE8