Vorab-Rezensenten

My Name is Noel is a middle-grade to young adult chapter book set in Miami, Florida. The main character is a 12-year-old Haitian boy named Noel. Noel and his grandfather have recently braved the ocean, in a small boat, to leave French-speaking Haiti and join his parents in Miami. He soon learns it is not popular to be Haitian in Miami and he thinks it is because of his French background and his dark skin. He cannot change his skin, but he can change his French name in the hope that his classmates will accept him. Instead of being called Noel, he asks to be called Neal. When Noel joins his new school’s soccer team and uses the soccer skills he learned from his father in Haiti to help the team win an important game, his schoolmates begin to accept him. My Name is Noel is written from Noel’s point of view and describes an immigrant boy’s struggle to fit in. The problems he faces trying to get used to a new country are compounded by his poverty and a general unfriendliness towards Haitians in Miami. Young people reading this story will see how overcoming their own prejudices can lead to real friendships.