My Name Is Not Isabella

August 16, 2010
In this picture book, first published
by Monkey Barrel Press in 2008, young Isabella isn't having an identity crisis—she's having an identity field day. When her mother greets her good morning, she responds with the book's title (and its refrain), adding, "I am Sally , the greatest, toughest, astronaut who ever was!" Throughout the day, Isabella assumes the roles of other "greatest" heroines: breakfast prompts an Annie Oakley reverie; a school bus ride puts her in the shoes of Rosa Parks. Litwin overworks the fuzzy, staticky textures of his mixed-
media illustrations to the point of distraction, and it's a little disappointing that none of debut author Fosberry's role models is of especially recent vintage—Marie Curie and Elizabeth Blackwell appear as her science and medicine superwomen. But the exuberance of the text and typography, coupled with Isabella's force of personality, ensures that the pages fly along, largely and blessedly free of the earnestness that plagues so many "girls can do anything" books. Ages 3–8.

August 1, 2010

The title phrase is what this purple-haired little girl says when her mother awakens her, because Isabella is Sally this morning, "the greatest, toughest astronaut who ever was!" When mother calls her "Sally" at breakfast, though, the girl announces that she's Annie, the "fastest sharp-shooter." It's Rosa the activist who waits for the bus and Marie the scientist who eats the cookies mother has made for her after school. Elizabeth the doctor relaxes in the bubble bath, and then the child announces that she, Isabella, is "Mommy, the greatest, sweetest mother who ever was!" One-paragraph bios of Sally Ride, Annie Oakley, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Elizabeth Blackwell and "Mommy" appear at the end (the Mommy bio is rather egregious). It's difficult to suss out the story, though. While it's nifty that Isabella imagines herself to be these great women, her mother's entire efforts are bent to taking care of Isabella, from hot breakfast to hot bubblebath. If that's what she aspires to be in the end, it's both solipsistic and philosophically tenuous and leaves readers young and older unengaged. (bibliography) (Picture book. 5-8)

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