Becoming Naomi León
| Becoming Naomi León | |
|---|---|
 Cover | |
| Author | Pam Munoz Ryan |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic Press |
Publication date | September 1, 2004 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 246 pages |
| ISBN | 0-439-26969-5 |
Becoming Naomi León is a 2005 fiction, adventure, and young author's 246 page coming of age novel by Pam Muñoz Ryan about a quiet half American-half Mexican girl, named Naomi, and her life with her great-grandmother and younger brother is peaceful. But when her mother reappears after abandoning her and her brother years earlier, threatening to endanger Naomi's happiness and turn her life, along with her great-grandmother and brother's, upside down, Naomi must go on a journey to keep the only family she's ever known together, but to do it, Naomi has to find her voice and someone who she never met and is missing from her life.
Plot summary
Naomi and Owen Outlaw are the children of Santiago Zamora León, a Mexican fisherman and carver, and Terri Lynn, a troubled American woman who lost her parents in a car accident when she was a teenager, making them half American-half Mexican, with Naomi inheriting the Mexican appearance from their father (brown skin, brown eyes, and black hair) and Owen taking after their mother's nationality (even though he did also have brown eyes). The family lived in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, however Santiago and Terri Lynn had a lot of arguments, which is thinning their marriage. When Naomi was four and Owen was one, Terri Lynn leaves the children unattended for a shopping trip while Santiago was out fishing, making her become missing for days. However, after a hurricane suddenly strikes, Naomi and Owen are near death, but luckily they were rescued just in time by Santiago, who after getting the children to safety, leaves shortly to move his boat, but this caused him to be lost out at sea for over a week. Meanwhile Terri Lynn returned and took the kids to Lemon Tree, California, where she once lived with her widowed grandmother, Mary Outlaw. After arriving at her apartment, Terri Lynn told her that she couldn't handle two kids by herself, especially with Owen deformed and left the kids with Mary so she could find her life, and never returned, forcing Mary to raise the children on her own. Soon after Mary took the kids to live in the Avacado Acres Trailer Rancho trailer park so Owen would have room to be a "wild monkey". Soon, Mary became emotionally and mentally attached to the kids, and took the role as their mother in Terri Lynn's place.
Seven years later, Naomi, now eleven-years-old and now known as Naomi Soledad León Outlaw, has a lot to deal with, such as being teased by her peers at school because of her "funny last name", her clothes (sewn in polyester by Gram), and her difficulty speaking up, making her status at school as "nobody special". She also has faint memories of her parents and thinks that they never wanted her and her still physically deformed eight-year-old brother, Owen.
Naomi and Owen still live with Mary in Lemon Tree, California in the trailer Baby Beluga (named by Gram) and in the trailer park consumed with the three things Naomi's good at: soap carving, worrying, and making lists. One day on another seemingly peaceful day, Terri Lynn, who now renamed herself Skyla Jones, suddenly reappears after the seven years of being gone. With her arrival, she starts to stir up all sorts of questions. Naomi and Owen are both thrilled on her arrival and questioned why she even returned, and Naomi was also sad that Skyla wasn't anywhere near the mothers that she had imagined during the years.
During the next few days, Skyla has her attention fully on Naomi, and is completely ignoring Owen, while she is having violent mood-swings, which seems to confuse only Naomi. Also what confused Naomi more is Skyla insulting her for her quiet and soft-spoken nature, harshly ordering her to work on it. Also Gram openly shows her discomfort and dislike for Skyla, making Naomi think that Gram was hiding something terrible from her and Owen, therefore leaving Naomi highly suspicious.
Gram later tells her and Owen the truth, but they don't really know the truth, until the day of the conference where Skyla promised to come and meet Naomi's new and first friend, Blanca, a full Mexican girl who lives with her single mother, but she didn't. That day Naomi realized that her mother is really an alcoholic and that her father really wanted her and Owen but Skyla didn't let him keep them by falsely threatening him to turn him in if he tried contacting them, leaving Naomi angry that Gram kept this from her and Owen.
On Thanksgiving Day, Skyla's boyfriend, Clive, comes over for the holiday. However, many tensions went between Skyla and Clive with the Gram and the neighbors when they openly tell Naomi that they were thinking of taking her with them to Las Vegas, just so she could take care of Clive's daughter, Sapphire. Skyla also openly insulted Owen's deformities, angering Gram and the neighbors. However, after that, Naomi soon noticed beer in Skyla and Clive's car, and after noticing Naomi saw it, Skyla orders Naomi to forget about it, leaving Naomi increasingly confused.
After going back to school on Monday, Naomi tells Blanca about what happened, and with that Blanca, now worried that Skyla will harm Naomi and Owen in any way, informs Naomi to tell Gram, but Naomi refuses, not wanting to give more things to worry about for Gram, deciding to not tell her unless she knew for certain that Skyla was really an alcoholic.
Three days later, Owen's regular check-up at the doctor's was coming up, and Skyla volunteered to take Owen since Gram had to help one of her neighbors, Fabiola, with a bride's wedding gown, and she promised Gram that everything will end well. However, that promise was broken when Skyla suddenly becomes furious after hearing more of Owen's condition, much to Naomi's horror. When they got back to Baby Beluga, the furious Skyla tells Naomi that they were finally leaving, but Naomi, knowing that Skyla was drunk and was just taking her (Naomi) with her just so she could take care of Sapphire, refuses, making Skyla physically harm Naomi in front of Owen. Skyla then threatens Gram's life in front of them, telling Naomi that she (Gram) will get hurt because of her, and now terrified for their lives (mostly for Gram's), Naomi and Owen flee and inform Gram. Shocked and enraged at the news, Gram orders Naomi and Owen to hide, before going to confront Skyla with Fabiola and her husband, Bernardo Morales. Skyla after the trio confronted her openly threatens Gram to turn her in if she didn't hand over Naomi, but Gram, not threatened by Skyla, refuses, declaring that she will do whatever it took to keep both Naomi and Owen safe. Once again, not believing Gram's promise, Skyla once again threatens Gram before leaving. This left Naomi emotionally unstable and terrified for the next two days, making her cling onto Gram.
Realizing that the law was on Skyla's side but determined of saving Naomi and Owen, Gram takes the kids on a whirl-wind journey accompanied with Fabiola and Bernardo to the city of Oaxaca, Mexico and stay with the Morales's relatives. There they go on a quest in which Naomi is determined to find Santiago, who they learned comes every year to the Las Posadas and the Night of the Radishes competition. During their stay Owen becomes friends with Fabiola's niece's son, Rubén, and Naomi became close to Rubén's mother, Graciela, who Naomi often imagined to be her real mother. During the next few days, the group do not hear from Santiago, and Gram slowly begins to lose hope, but Naomi refuses to give up. Even when the radishes festival begins, the group win the composition in second place after Naomi carved a lion. Not too long after though, Santiago finally shows up, but when he sees Gram, Owen, and Naomi, he flees in a panic, Naomi following behind him in hopes of catching up to him, but to her despair, she loses sight of him, making her go back to Gram, empty-handed. However Santiago returns, and reunites with Naomi and Owen, while he also learns of the problem. The next day, Gram, Naomi, and Owen are forced to leave early because of court, and Naomi asks Santiago if he could move with them, but he told her that he has to stay where he lives in Mexico because of his job. After Naomi promises to come visit him he told her 'Be brave, Naomi León' before they leave.
When they go to court, Naomi, remembering what her father told her and finding her voice for the first time, tells the judge everything from the beginning when Gram was widowed to where they found Naomi and Owen's father. After telling the whole court that she wants to live with Gram and Owen because she belonged in Lemon Tree, she loved Gram, Owen, Blanca, and her school, and she didn't want to go with Skyla because of the reasons she explained, the judge grants full guardianship to Gram, since she didn't want to separate relatives who have lived together all their lives, despite Skyla trying to lie to the judge that Naomi was making up stories in order to get her. After the happy trio return to live their peaceful life in Lemon Tree with Gram saying that Skyla might try to take them back to court someday. Naomi is then reunited with Blanca when she goes to back to school, and after school that day she tells Naomi that her voice is louder.
In the epilogue, Naomi is aware that she was different from what she used to be, from the quiet mouse to "A mouse with a lioness' voice'. She also she became the Naomi Soledad León Outlaw of her wildest dreams.
Characters
Major characters
Naomi Soledad León Outlaw: the protagonist and narrator of the story; she is a quiet and shy half American-half Mexican girl who has difficulty speaking up for herself and her younger brother Owen, and has lived with her brother and great-grandmother for most of her life. She is talented at soap carving and as she says "worrying and making lists" and also considers herself as "nobody special".
Gram: or Mary Outlaw, is a seemtress, Skyla's grandmother, and Naomi and Owen's great-grandmother. She raised Naomi and Owen and according to Naomi, Gram is an expert at naming objects for what they resemble. After Skyla reappeared after her seven year absence, Gram became very protective of the children as she knew of what harm Skyla caused. Gram is also the only one who knows what happened between the thinning marriage between Skyla and Santiago, Naomi and Owen's father. Gram raised Skyla after her parents died in a car accident.
Skyla Jones: or "Terri Lynn" is Naomi and Owen's mother who all of a sudden re-appeared after a seven year absence; she is also the antagonist of the story. Because of her troubled past, she became alcoholic, making her go to many hospitals and halfway houses. Because of this, she is mentally unstable and usually lashes out at Naomi, and ignores Owen because of how she thinks he doesn't 'look' smart because of his deformities, because of this she is mostly unhappy except with her boyfriend Clive.
Owen León Outlaw: Naomi's younger brother who is also half American-half Mexican, although he takes the American side of the family, as Naomi takes the Mexican side; although very talkative and optimistic, Owen is crippled, causing him to seem "undesirable" in Skyla's eyes. At school he is known as the "weird kid" and he is always made fun of by some of the students. He also has a froggy voice and some disabilities with a love for bicycles and a sanctification of wearing tape.
Santiago Zamora León: Naomi and Owen's father who has lived in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. At one time, he wanted the children but Skyla would not let him see or keep them. However according to Gram, he is a handsome, very gentle and honest man who lived with and always argued with Skyla until Owen was just one years old and she took the children to live with Gram so she could find her life.
Minor characters
Clive:Terri's boyfriend and a tattoo artist; he is condescending of Naomi's soap carving. He is also the reason Skyla changed her name, because he said that Skyla didn't look like Terri Lynn, she looked as beautiful as the sky.
Sapphire: or "Elizabeth" is Clive's 8-year-old daughter; although mentioned, she never made an entrance in the story, but according to Gram, she seems to be a depressed girl who always has a sad look on her face.
Pedro: Fabiola's brother-in-law; he is one of the relatives who lives in Oaxaca, Mexico when Gram, Owen and Naomi go to them. According to Naomi, he reminds her of Santa Claus, since he has a round belly and a white beard. When he, Bernardo, and Beni participate for the Night of the Radishes competition, they have Naomi carve a lion.
Flora: Fabiola's sister; she is one of the relatives who live in Oaxaca, Mexico when Gram, Owen and Naomi came to them. She speaks very little English like Pedro, according to her daughter, Graciela, and according to Naomi, Flora is as short as Fabiola.
Graciela: Pedro and Flora's daughter and Rubén's mother; she works as a doctor's assistant at a nearby hospital, and she and her husband are divorced, but according to Graciela, she wanted to find her life with Rubén, rather be away from him to find her life like Skyla. She also seems to act like a mother to Naomi.
Rubén: Graciela's son and Owen's best friend; after Naomi, Gram, and Owen came to their house, Rubén and Owen became friends very quickly and the two are rarely seen apart. Rubén speaks Spanish like his grandparents, but he speaks English as well.
Beni: Bernardo's cousin who also lives in Oaxaca, Mexico; he comes every year for the Night of the Radishes, but it seems that he and Pedro argue a lot for what they should carve for the festival.
Teresa: Naomi's great-aunt who is related to Santiago by marriage; she speaks Zapotec and very little Spanish. She also paints Santiago's wood carvings and she seemed to be really connected to Santiago, as she had a photo of him as a young boy.
Fabiola and Bernardo: The neighbors in the trailer park; they are from Oaxaca, Mexico and they speak Spanish as well as English. They help Gram with raising Naomi and Owen. Also Bernardo taught Naomi how to carve while Fabiola, like Gram, works as a seemtress.
Mrs. Maloney: Their eighty-eight-year-old neighbor who goes to bed at six o' clock. Not much is known about her, but according to Gram and Naomi, she loves hummingbirds and wears a chess pink robe every day. Even though she made only two entrances in the story, one after Skyla came back and on Thanksgiving Day, she has a major role and is mentioned many times throughout the rest of the story.
Blanca: Naomi's best friend who lives with her single mother. However unlike Naomi, being half-Mexican, Blanca is full Mexican. She also calls Naomi "Naomi the Lion" because her real last name. León, means lion in Spanish. Blanca though is the complete opposite of Naomi: loud, talkative, and blunt, but despite this, Naomi enjoys Blanca's company, though Gram calls Blanca a "jabber-mouth".
Ms. Morimoto: Naomi's fifth-grade teacher; she deeply cares about Naomi and she tries to help her with her problem with the boys. According to Naomi, Morimoto is the Japanese version of Fabiola, and she almost looks like Fabiola.
Mr. Marble: The librarian; he is one of the people who doesn't treat Naomi as an outcast. He lets her and the other outcasts to eat in the library while he takes care of the principal's childhood dolls. He also calls Naomi by her first and last name as well.
Other Characters
Blanca's Mother: An unnamed Mexican businesswoman and the mother of Blanca. Though she only had one appearance and role in the story, she seems to be a loving, hard-working, but protective mother who hates being late to her job. She is also divorced with her husband, and took the job of taking care of Blanca since then.
The Boys: A group of unnamed boys who often tease Naomi for her name. Naomi plans to get back at them in the future.