I Just Want to be Me. Review of Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie

Title: Thunder Boy Jr
Author: Sherman Alexie
Illustrator: Yuyi Morales

Thunder Boy Jr. is named after his dad, but he wants a name that's all his own. Just because people call his dad Big Thunder doesn't mean he wants to be Little Thunder. He wants a name that celebrates something cool he's done, like Touch the Clouds, Not Afraid of Ten Thousand Teeth, or Full of Wonder.

But just when Thunder Boy Jr. thinks all hope is lost, he and his dad pick the perfect name...a name that is sure to light up the sky.

National Book Award-winner Sherman Alexie's lyrical text and Caldecott Honor-winner Yuyi Morales's striking and beautiful illustrations celebrate the special relationship between father and son. 

This is a very cute book about wanting to be yourself and now what everyone else decides you are.  It's something people of all ages struggle with not just  young children! But the struggle of Thunder Boy Jr. is one kids will be able to relate to.  And when he announces to the reader "I hate my name!".  I bet many kids will nod and agree.  As much as we love the names we give our kids - they don't always agree with us.  I have a nickname for my youngest son, and there are times he hates when I use it mainly because it's something I came up with that he doesn't understand. 

The illustrations in the book are fantastic! I like how the colors are full and rich but yet muted and soft.  They help convey the story by matching the fullness of Thunder Boy Jr's father and the soft simple way his frustration with his name is handled.  In the end it was fun to see Thunder Boy Jr excited and happy about the name he now has.  The reader is right there with him.

Finally - a wonderful book about the names we are given and the names we want.