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MY NAME IS AI LIN

Name: MY NAME IS AI LIN
Author: Maria Wen Adcock
ISBN: 9781534113114

by Maria Wen Adcock ; illustrated by Yu Ting Cheng ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2025

An empowering celebration of identity.

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A girl explains her name’s pronunciation and significance to her new classmates.

Ai Lin is the only Asian-featured child in a classroom of children with many other shades of skin and hair colors. On the first day of school, the other kids don’t know how to say her name. “Island?” “Eileen?” they ask. “No,” Ai Lin replies, correcting their pronunciation. They persist. “Can we just call you Eileen?” Ai Lin then explains why her name is not to be changed; it is her heritage, carrying the hopes and dreams of her elders. She describes how each part of her name has a meaning. “Ai” means “love,” like warm hugs from Mama, and “Lin” means “gem,” precious and unique the way Baba sees her. Her sister also has a meaningful name, Ai Mei. “Ai” is for “love,” “just like me… It’s what I feel when I say her name.” “Mei” means “rose,” and the two sisters together are a lovely gem and a lovely rose. By the end of her explanation, the other children are listening intently and, of course, get her name exactly right the next day. Cheng’s sweet illustrations in a muted yet colorful palette convey Ai Lin’s childlike perspective of her classmates and her understanding of herself, her family, and her heritage.

An empowering celebration of identity. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: July 1, 2025

ISBN: 9781534113114

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press

Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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WHY A DAUGHTER NEEDS A MOM

by Gregory R. Lange ; illustrated by Sydney Hanson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2019

New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned.

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All the reasons why a daughter needs a mother.

Each spread features an adorable cartoon animal parent-child pair on the recto opposite a rhyming verse: “I’ll always support you in giving your all / in every endeavor, the big and the small, / and be there to catch you in case you should fall. / I hope you believe this is true.” A virtually identical book, Why a Daughter Needs a Dad, publishes simultaneously. Both address standing up for yourself and your values, laughing to ease troubles, being thankful, valuing friendship, persevering and dreaming big, being truthful, thinking through decisions, and being open to differences, among other topics. Though the sentiments/life lessons here and in the companion title are heartfelt and important, there are much better ways to deliver them. These books are likely to go right over children’s heads and developmental levels (especially with the rather advanced vocabulary); their parents are the more likely audience, and for them, the books provide some coaching in what kids need to hear. The two books are largely interchangeable, especially since there are so few references to mom or dad, but one spread in each book reverts to stereotype: Dad balances the two-wheeler, and mom helps with clothing and hair styles. Since the books are separate, it aids in customization for many families.

New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned. (Picture book. 4-8, adult)

Pub Date: May 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4926-6781-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)