Teach Us Your Name: Book Review & Activities
“Everyone has a name and every name has a story.”
– Huda Essa, educator, and author of Teach Us Your Name
Teach Us Your Name is a children’s book that brings awareness to the importance of respecting everyone’s name, empowering kids to teach others about their name, and encouraging a positive classroom culture that values diversity. It is a book that belongs in every classroom!
Disclosure: We received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes; however, all opinions are our own. This post contains affiliate links. By clicking through and making a purchase, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. All proceeds help support our free global education website. Thank you!
Teach Us Your Name
Kareemalayaseenadeen (Kareema-lay-yes-seen-a-deen) absolutely hates her name. She fears her teacher will have trouble pronouncing it correctly and her classmates will laugh at her. She is angry at her parents for naming her that “ugly, terrible, weird and ridiculously long name.”
Kareemalayaseenadeen doesn’t see her name in the books she reads, the history she learns, or in the shows she watches. She’s frustrated by the fact that she cannot find her name on a mug or a keychain.
She eventually finds it easier to just accept the name her teachers and classmates begin calling her, Karma-deen – and even starts calling herself that too.
Then during an overseas trip to visit family, the young girl learns her name means “guidance.” Her wise grandmother encourages her to guide others on the proper way to say her name.
Kareemalayaseenadeen creates a plan and teaches others how to pronounce her name the way she wants it to be said. She grows to appreciate her “lovely, meaningful, unique name.”
Teach Us Your Name FREE Resources & Activities
Supplemental Resource Guide Themes, ideas, and talking points for specific pages from the author.
My Name, My Identity Respect, appreciate and connect with students and their families by pledging to pronounce students’ names correctly. #MyNameMyID
Behind the Name Browse first names and learn their meanings, languages, pronunciation, history, and more. #BehindTheName
Teach Us Your Name Printable Empower each student to be confident and proud of their name with this printable from Globe Trottin’ Kids. #TeachUsYourName
Meet the Author
Hudda Essa is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant at Culture Links, LLC.
Learn more about the ultimate purpose of this book and the story behind it. (Great staff development video!)
Related Product: The Name Jar Book Companion
Unhei, a young girl from Korea, faces many challenges when she moves to a new culture – including what to do about her name. Unhei’s new American classmates have difficulty pronouncing and understanding her Korean name, making her think she should choose a new one.
Ultimately, Unhei learns to embrace her own name and shares it, its meaning, and her Korean culture with her new friends.
- Buy the book on Amazon.
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. The mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents, and educators.
FREE RESOURCES From MCBD
Multicultural Books for Teachers
Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators
Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld
Medallion Level Sponsors
- Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org
- Super Platinum: Make A Way Media
- GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV, Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press
- SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,
- BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift, T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield
MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board
Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,
Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Claudia Schwam, Lori DeMonia, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC
We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.
Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts
A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup, Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground