Hannah Is My Name book review by Aiden

Title of the Book: Hannah Is My Name 

Author Name: Belle Yang 

Reviewer's Name: Aiden 

Publisher: Candlewick Press 

 Date of Publication: 2004 

 Rating: 1-5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

The book, Hanna Is My Name by Belle Yang is the story of a young girl and her family who moved to the United States of America from the country Taiwan. They struggled with being able to earn enough money to support 3 people without being able to get a job. They couldn’t get a well-paying job, because they did not have green cards, and if they got caught they would get sent back to Taiwan. They have a close call with a man who checks for green cards but they are saved by the nice doorman who works at their apartment building. They wait for over a year for their green cards to come in the unreliable United States Postal Service. They eventually come, and Hannah finally acknowledges that Hannah is her name, by saying “Hannah is my name” (Yang 23). 

This is a good book for the reading level it is rated for. It has a decent plot and a good storyline. It gets the readers thinking about what it would be like to not be able to work, for fear of being deported. It tells young children that not everybody is as privileged as they are and that they should be understanding of this. There is also a bit of irony included in the book. At the start of the book, the main character dislikes her name. She thinks that it is weird that they do not call her “tadpole” or Na-Li but at the end of the book when she gets her green card she accepts her name and begins to like it. Overall this book has a good plot, and enough of it to keep the story interesting for a younger audience, but it does not have too much that it gets confusing.