Becoming Naomi León
 First edition | |
| Author | Pam Muñoz Ryan |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic Press |
Publication date | September 1, 2005 |
| 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, whose her life with her great-grandmother and younger brother is peaceful, until her mother reappears after abandoning her and her brother years earlier. Later, 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 Outlaw is a Hispanic girl who lives a carefree life with her great-grandmother, Mary Outlaw and her deformed younger brother, Owen, in Lemon Tree, California. One day, Naomi and Owen's mother, Skyla, suddenly reappears after the 7 years she was gone. Her arrival starts to bring all sorts of questions from the small family and their neighbors, including the fact that Skyla is showing favoritism towards Naomi.
Mary later tells Naomi and Owen the truth, but they don't really know the truth, until the day of the conference where Skyla promised to come, but she didn't. That day, Naomi realized that Skyla is really an alcoholic and that her father really wanted to keep her and Owen but Skyla wouldn't let him. As things get more severe, Naomi becomes very weary of Skyla, but despite her best friend's warnings, Naomi refused to see anything bad about her mother.
However, after a seemingly regular doctor's appointment for Owen, Skyla suddenly becomes infuriated and tells Naomi that they were leaving, but Naomi knew that Skyla was taking her just so she would take care of Skyla's boyfriend Clive's daughter, Sapphire. Refusing to let that happen, Mary takes the kids on a whirl-wind journey accompanied by their neighbors Fabiola and Bernardo Morales to the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. There they go on a quest in which Naomi is determined to find her father, Santiago. The group participate in Mexico's Los Posadas and Night of the Radishes, where Santiago arrives and reunites with his children. However, Santiago is unable to come back with Naomi and Owen to Lemon Tree.
However, with Santiago's help, Mary successfully manages to gain full guardianship of Naomi and Owen, much to Skyla's dismay, and the trio return to their peaceful life in Lemon Tree.
Characters
Major characters
Naomi Soledad León Outlaw: the daughter of Santiago and Skyla (Terri Lynn), the great-granddaughter of Mary, and the sister of Owen; she is also the main protagonist and narrator of the story. Naomi 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 grandmother for most of her life. She is talented at soap carving and as she just goes to "worrying and making lists" and also considers herself as "nobody special".
Mary Outlaw: or "Gram" as she is mostly known in the story, is a seamtress, the grandmother of Skyla, the mother of Skyla's mother, and the great-grandmother/guardian of Naomi and Owen. She is a widow and is known to be strict, but protective and loving towards her two great-grandchildren. According to Naomi, Gram is an expert at naming objects for what they resemble. Gram raised Skyla after her parents died in a car accident.
Skyla Jones: or "Terri Lynn" is the mother of Naomi and Owen, the ex-wife of Santiago, and the granddaughter of Mary who all of a sudden re-appeared after a seven year absence; she is also the antagonist of the story. Her personality before the deaths of her parents is unknown, but she was known to be wild and immature. After divorcing Santiago and leaving her children with Mary, Skyla 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: the younger brother of Naomi, the son of Santiago and Skyla (Terri Lynn), and the great-grandson of Mary. He is also half American-half Mexican, although he takes the American side of the family, as Naomi takes the Mexican side; Owen in personality is the complete opposite of Naomi, he is talkative, optimistic, and mischievous, despite often being teased in school, but he is crippled, causing him to seem "undesirable" in Skyla's eyes. He also has a love for bicycles and a sanctification of wearing tape, the latter which annoys Skyla.
Santiago Zamora León: the father of Naomi and Owen, the ex-husband of Skyla, and a son of the León family who has lived in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. At one time, he wanted the children but Skyla would not let him see or keep them. Santiago's personality is similar to Naomi's; he is a very gentle, shy, loves to carve, but is very knowledgeable and wise, which Naomi later gets upon learning more about the magic of art. As Skyla doesn't understand Santiago's love for carving, she often ridicules it, much to Gram's and the other neighbors' annoyance and anger.
Minor characters
Clive: Skyla's boyfriend and a tattoo artist; he is condescending of Naomi's soap carving. He also said that Terri Lynn didn't look like a Terri Lynn and that she looked like the sky changing her name to Skyla.
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, which might have been caused by her father's divorce with her mother and not being able to live with her mother, indicating a strained relationship with her father, and/or Clive's ways.
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 is like a role model 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 seamtress.
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.
The Library Lunch Kids: A group of kids that eat lunch with the librarian, Mr. Marbles.
Sapphire's Mother: she is the unseen mother of Sapphire and the ex-wife of Clive. Although she is only mentioned once, she is said to have named Sapphire "Elizabeth" after her own mother, who Clive disliked, which was the reason for Sapphire's name change. She is also said to be his second wife. It is unknown when Clive divorced her, but she never gained custody of Sapphire and is allowed to visit her from time to time, which could be the reason for Sapphire's sadness.
Skyla's Mother: she is the daughter of Mary and her deceased husband, the wife of Skyla's father, the mother of Skyla, and the grandmother of Naomi and Owen. She is only mentioned a few times in the story, and Mary seemed to love her very much as she was saddened when her daughter ran off to marry Skyla's father. However, she soon died with her husband in a car accident, leaving Skyla orphaned, and her parents' death could be the reason for Skyla's behavior.
Skyla's Father: he is the husband of Skyla's mother, the son-in-law of Mary, the father of Skyla, and the grandfather of Naomi and Owen. He is mentioned only a few times in the story, and his personality is unknown. He died with his wife in a car accident and left his daughter, Terri Lynn (Skyla) orphaned. His death along with her mother's could be the reason for Skyla's behavior.
Skyla's Grandparents: they are the parents of Skyla's father, the great-grandparents of Naomi and Owen, and the grandparents of Skyla. They are only mentioned once in the story, and although nothing is known on their personalities, they didn't want to take care of their orphaned granddaughter, Skyla, due to her despising them, and soon left her in Mary's care. Their fates to this day are unknown.
Mary's Husband: he is the husband of Mary, the father of Skyla's mother, the father-in-law of Skyla's father, the grandfather of Skyla, and the great-grandfather of Naomi and Owen. He is mentioned once in the story, but his personality is unknown. His cause of death is also unknown.
Bernardo and Fabiola's Sons: they are the sons of Bernardo and Fabiola Morales. They are never seen in person, but are mentioned in photos and in military uniforms, showing that they work in the army, and as Naomi never talks about them, this may mean that they moved out before she came to live in Lemon Tree and doesn't know much about them. Their fates to this day are unknown.