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“…This simple story puts a child-friendly spin on a common immigrant experience as the child’s classmates respond with similar puzzle pictures of their own names.” –School Library Journal

My Name is Sangoel

Written by Khadra Mohammed and Karen Lyan Williams
Illustrated by Catherine Stock
Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

Sangoel is a refugee. Leaving behind his homeland of Sudan, where his father died in the war, he has little to call his own other than his name, a Dinka name handed down proudly from his father and grandfather before him. When Sangoel and his mother and sister arrive in the United States, everything seems very strange and unlike home. In this busy, noisy place, with its escalators and television sets and traffic and snow, Sangoel quietly endures the fact that no one can pronounce his name. Lonely and homesick, he finally comes up with an ingenious solution to this problem, and in the process he at last begins to feel at home.

Primary ISBN: 9780802853073
Available As: Hardcover
Picture Book, Age 06 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , ,

Setting: United States

Character’s New Arrival/New American Status: Refugee

Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience

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Lesson Plan for Grades 1-4 (PDF)
Source: The Newark Public Library

Teacher’s Guide (PDF)
Source: Author Website- Karen Lynn Williams 

Discussion Guide (PDF)
Source: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

 

This book is part of the Welcoming Library. The Welcoming Library is a traveling collection of picture books set in our New Arrival and 
New American communities. From small towns to big cities, these immigration stories are helping readers 
(of all ages) Welcome and Belong. WelcomingLibrary.org