Hannah is My Name

Hannah is My Name
By Belle Yang

Hannah is My Name is an awesome, color-fill picture book more appropriate for older elementary aged children. The pages are filled with more text, meant more for a teacher to read to a classroom. The pictures are wonderful to look at, with bright, vivid colors and comic like characters. I personally love the fact that the front and back inside covers are covered with a full-page picture, making the reader see this as the first and last look at the book. Even more interesting is the first cover is Hannah’s family leaving China, waving goodbye and the back inside cover is Hannah’s family adapted to their life in the United States.

The characters features are much more exaggerated, less life-like. But this definitely doesn’t stop a reader from seeing exactly what is going on. You can clearly see the main characters are Asian from their facial features and the fact that Hannah states on the first page “We came to American by airplane over the ocean, and we want to stay and make this country our home.” (Pg. 3, Yang, 2004)

The story is centered on not only Hannah and her family, but also their immigration process. It’s about them moving to American from China (Taiwan), and becoming citizens. Easily stated in the text, it explains to children how immigration and the immigration process works. The reason I like the novel is because of this- there is one whole page dedicated to Hannah’s family being at the immigration office, answering a series of questions, and getting something called their “green cards”-

“When it is all done, Mr. Choo tells Mama, ‘Take these papers to the immigration office. Pay them a fee. After that, there is nothing left to do but wait. If the government mails you green cards, one for each of you, it means you can stay in America. But the green cards may never come if the government does not believe you are honest.’” (Pg. 7, Yang, 2004)

I think the clear way this immigration process is stated is perfect for a children’s book, because the children can connect the text to the picture and more easily understand the process through this more simple dialogue. Belle Yang, the author, is an insider. As stated on the inside cover, her family migrated from Japan, although she was born in Taiwan, when she was only 7 years old. She says, “I missed my old friends and teacher, but it was not miserable yearning. It was a great privilege to come to the United States and we didn’t look back.” (Back cover, Yang, 2004). What is even more remarkable is the fact that Yang also illustrated this book, as well as writing it. Another interesting this is that this book has clear hints in the pictures of the time period- 1967 and 1968, which is the the first years Yang lived in American herself. Take the picture to the left- The chalkboard says 1968 so a reader can deduce the year. Another page (the page about immigration) has a calender that says 1967.

The book is filled with vivid descriptions of living in a new place and adapting to a new place, a new life, and a new identity- the story of a young girl becoming an American citizen. Hannah is a character that any young child can relate to, having to adapt to many new things in life.

Yang, Belle. Hannah is My Name. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick P, 2004.

The first image is from:
http://www.belleyang.com/Cover%20Hannah%20Is%20My%20Name.jpg
The second image:
http://belleyang.com/Martin%20Luther%20King%20Jr..htm