BOOK REVIEW: Little Girl With The Long Name

TITLE: Little Girl With The Long Name
AUTHOR: Eleni Charalambous
PUBLISHED BY: Independently published

For children who have an unusual or long name, this one’s for them; it is a charming story with a message, about a little girl who doesn’t understand why her name is so much longer than those of her friends; she comes to realise that although people all look different they are still the same in many ways.

This is such an appealing book about a girl with a very long name and how she gets teased about it; but she stands up for her differences and promotes being kind to all. The story explains how often children can’t understand why they have so many differences to their other classmates and how they can begin to feel excluded or embarrassed. By discovering that parents can be from different places and not just from the same place the little girl in the story begins to realise and accept that she should never forget where her family is originally from and that everyone should embrace their roots.

I loved the premise of this book, it's such a great idea for a story to reinforce to children that we all have our own unique qualities, including our name. I also loved the idea of teaching children more about their heritage through their names but my main appreciation of this book is for the inclusion of children with names and appearances that aren’t always the same as the majority.

Beautifully written and told in rhyme with short sentences it has a recommended reading age of baby to seven year olds but it is a great read for the whole family; the story is compact and simply told plus all the words are suitable for young readers, i.e. there are no long words which young children may not understand; a lovely book for home or the classroom. It is a gentle reminder of how special each child and their name are whilst tackling the subject of children coming from an assortment of different backgrounds and teaching them to being proud of their origins, learning about their heritage and embracing it all.

I loved everything about this book from the beautifully, expressive illustrations which depict children and families of different colours and races to tackling the subject of families coming from different countries and welcoming the difference and being proud of it; it teaches a little about Greece too.

It is a great read for children, teaching them meaningful values and important life lessons; multi-culture at its best. Children can get mocked about their first or their last names, this book enables children to understand the unique names they are given at birth and how special they are.

It goes without saying that one of the most important topics we can teach children in today's world is empathy and acceptance of others; this book gives assurance to children that no matter where they are from and what their background is, each child has a right to be included and get respect from their peers. It celebrates that being different from others is special and reminds children of immigrant families to be proud of their heritage.

One small niggle, I stumbled over a few of the rhymes which seemed a bit forced in places but the book is perfect for the global world in which we all now live. I admired the positive way it succeeds in sharing cultural differences, starting with the most basic of all, our names, and helping children to discover that parents can be from more than one place.

I was a little disappointed that the girl’s long name wasn’t mentioned but overall it is an excellent book about embracing differences and the importance of acceptance plus there is a nice touch in adding a little info about the author at the end; additionally it is beautifully illustrated by Tanja Varcelija.

Reviewer - Anne Pritchard