That’s Not My Name is written by Anoosha Syed and is a picture book that covers a familiar scenario for many students with cultural names. In this lovely book Mirha starts her first day of school and when she shares her name with her new classmates, she finds out none of them can say it right. The illustrations add to her dismay with all the speech bubbles of kids calling her any number of variations of her name, none of them correct. Even teachers say her name wrong. Mirha goes through many emotions about people saying her name incorrectly and what she should do about it. Should she change her name to something no one could get wrong? At the end of the day, Mama saves the day reminding Mirha about the beauty behind her name and the strength she has behind her to make sure classmates and teachers say it correctly.
Many kids go through this exact same experience and because of that – this book is important!
I highly recommend this beautiful book and think it belongs in every school.