Picturebook Review: My Name is Elizabeth!

My Name is Elizabeth! is a picturebook written by Annika Dunklee and illustrated by Matthew Forsythe. Elizabeth loves her name, her pet duck, and her family. However, she is greatly bothered when people insist on calling her names like Beth or Lizzy. Elizabeth is a name she shares with a queen, and she does not want to be called anything else. Her name is great, and she loves everything about it, and freely lists all the wonderful things about the name Elizabeth. She puts up with the nicknames for as long as she can before making it known, loud and clear, that she wants to be called Elizabeth. In the end, she just might let some people get away with calling her something other than Elizabeth.

My Name is Elizabeth! is a fun, simple story that I easily relate to since I have always had to struggle with a serious dislike to any name derived nicknames people tried to use for me. Miss Elizabeth is a normal, feisty child with a mind of her own. I really loved the artwork for the book as well. The illustrations are two-toned, and do a great job of illustrating Elizabeth's nature and moods. The drawings are a little retro, and the format is simple and easy to follow. The speech bubbles combined with the two-toned illustrations give the format a comic book feel, which could appeal to many readers. While not every kid is lucky enough to have a pet duck, all will be able to relate to not like nicknames family and other people in their lives might use for them, and the need to speak up and communicate that to the people around them.

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