My Name Is Maria Isabel by Alma Flor Ada

This is the story of a young Hispanic girl growing up in the United States. It goes through her struggle, that many minority students deal with, with biculturalism and self identity. The title comes from the struggle caused by her teacher calling her Mary in class. The teacher does not understand why Maria has such a hard time responding until the teacher reads her essay on "My Greatest Wish". 


Teachers: Here are some resources to help you teach..
My Name is Maria Isabel-Power Point This link will bring you to search results. Click on the first link which is a power point made by a teacher, Michelle Krill. This power point is so great because it provides vocabulary and prediction questions.
For this next resource ..I do not have a link. I went to google and searched "No Name-Calling Week Elementary Lesson Plans". The first PDF document that came up was very helpful. It is lesson plans from GLSEN and NAESP and it gave me the idea that this book could be used in conjunction with No Name Calling Week.


Vocabulary: Mrs. Taylor's Fourth Grade Class Website At the bottom of this page are five vocabulary words that should be covered so that students can better understand how Maria Isabel was feeling throughout the book.

Teaching Suggestions:

2. During Reading Change all the students names in the class for the day. Call them all by the different names. To make it easier you may want to make them wear name tags. After this experience, the next day, have them write an essay explaining how they felt throughout this day.

3. After Reading Quia Quiz Here is a quiz that you can give to you students after they have completed reading the book to test their comprehension.


Ada, Alma Flor. My Name Is Maria Isabel. New York: Aladdin, 1995.