G My Name Is Girl: A Song of Celebration from Argentina to Zambia

by Dawn Masi

Overview

Skip right into this joyful, diverse, alphabetic picture book celebrating girls around the world.

A, my name is ALBA and my sister's name is AYELÉN. We come from ARGENTINA and we are ADVENTUROUS.

Girls from 26 different countries—Argentina to Zambia—are beautifully and thoughtfully represented in this A to Z tribute to global girlhood. Children will enjoy reading about each girl's name, empowering character trait, and country, while learning how we are all connected.

Globally-minded kids can also find the countries on a map at the back of the book and dream of places they'd like to visit.

Don't miss the companion story: B My Name Is Boy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593304044
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,114,509
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

DAWN MASI is the author-illustrator of the picture books G My Name is Girl and B My Name is Boy. She is also an art director and graphic designer in film and television. She lives in a small town on the Hudson River with her husband and two children. Learn more about her work at dawnmasi.com and follow her on Instagram at @dawnmasi.

Editorial Reviews

01/18/2021

In an alliterative abecedarian, Masi takes readers on a global journey to meet girls and women from 26 countries who exhibit as many vaguely aspirational traits. Full-color spreads in muted hues accompany the litany, depicting subjects of various skin tones, hair textures, and abilities against a slice of each country’s landscape—in Argentina, two “adventurous” siblings jump rope against a mountainous backdrop, while New Zealander Nelly, who uses a wheelchair, proves “nurturing,” coddling a lamb in a grassy field. One scene seems to reduce a country to a single traumatic event (two “heroic” figures in Haiti are seen picking their way across a pile of rubble, animals on their backs), while others extol virtues that feel laudable chiefly from a Western perspective, but the friendly illustrations of an inclusive range of girls are notably lively. Includes a map of highlighted locations. Ages 3–7. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2020-12-15
Riffing on a 1950s playground rhyme, this alphabet book uses the rhythm of “A, My Name Is Alice” but does not include the references to husbands and products.

Instead, the rhymes concentrate on pairs of girls or women—best friends, mothers and daughters, cousins, etc.—in an alphabetical list of countries around the world. These young women describe themselves and their female counterparts in positive and exciting ways: “I, my name is INDU, and my niece’s name is ISHANI. / We come from INDIA, and we are INVENTIVE.” The duo fly a large, handmade kite on a flat roof in an Indian city. The illustrations have an attractive, stylized paper-cut quality. The girls and women are diverse in skin tone and hair color. As usual in an alphabet book, X proves to be a problem, and the solution is a little clunky: “X, my name is AXELLE, and my nana’s name is MAXINE. / We come from LUXEMBOURG, and we are EXTRAORDINARY.” These two soar in a hang glider over a snowy landscape. A concluding double-page spread shows all the girls and women in a large courtyard, joyfully playing together. Readers could play a guessing game, remembering their names and countries. The countries include nations usually not mentioned, including Burkina Faso and Qatar, and the rear endpapers present a simple map of the continents with the girls’ faces keyed to their countries. Both features enhance learning opportunities. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.5-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 44.6% of actual size.)

An easy way to open up children’s eyes to girls around the world. (Picture book. 5-7)

Kirkus Reviews

"An easy way to open up children’s eyes to girls around the world." —Kirkus

"Friendly illustrations of an inclusive range of girls are notably lively.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher