My Name is Aviva

Read an Excerpt

My Name is Aviva

Kar-Ben Publishing

My name is Aviva, but the other kids never call me that.

"Bye, Amoeba!" Danny yells, as he runs past me in the schoolyard to meet his dad.

"My name is Aviva, not Amoeba!" I shout, but Danny just runs on.

Then Josette, who is French, skips by. "Au revoir, Viva La France!" she calls.

"My name is not Viva La France! My name is Aviva," I scream, but Josette is already gone.

I climb the monkey bars and hang upside down ignoring everybody.

Finally Mommy and Lulu arrive. "Ready to go, Aviva?" Mommy asks.

I don't answer.

"Aviva?" Mommy taps my shoulder, and Lulu sniffs my knee.

I don't move.

"Aviva, let's go."

"My name isn't Aviva," I tell Mommy. "My name is Emily."

"Emily? I'm sorry. I thought you were my daughter. Come, Lulu, let's go find Aviva." Mommy turns away.

"Wait, Mommy." I jump off the swing. "I am your daughter. But I've changed my name to Emily."

"Well then let's go, Emily," Mommy says.

"Mommy," I say as we crunch through autumn leaves. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," Mommy answers. She always says that.

"Can I ask you something else?"

"You just did," Mommy says again.

"Mommy, this is serious!" I kick a pile of leaves and send them flying. "Mommy, why did you and Daddy name me Aviva?"

Before Mommy answers, the big clock on Main Street chimes three times. "Is it three o'clock already?" she asks. "We have to hurry if we're going to make chicken soup for supper."

The minute we get home, Mommy fills a big pot with water and hands me some carrots to wash. "Do you know who taught me to make soup, Emily?"

---

Excerpted from My Name is Aviva by Lesléa Newman, Ag Jatkowska. Copyright © 2015 Lesléa Newman. Excerpted by permission of Kar-Ben Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---