My Name Is Leon
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

Kit de Waal. (2016). My Name Is Leon. Simon & Schuster.

Kit de Waal. 2016. My Name Is Leon. Simon & Schuster.

Kit de Waal, My Name Is Leon. Simon & Schuster, 2016.

Kit de Waal. My Name Is Leon. Simon & Schuster, 2016.

OverDrive Product Record

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My Name Is Leon

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• name: Kit de Waal

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My Name Is Leon

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2016-07-25T18:16:00-04:00

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keywords

1. • value: family
2. • value: childhood
3. • value: foster care
4. • value: brothers
5. • value: Coming of age
6. • value: foster care system
7. • value: novel
8. • value: biracial children
9. • value: emma donoghue
10. • value: Vanessa Diffenbaugh
11. • value: Kit de Waal
12. • value: my name is leon
13. • value: the language of flowers
14. • value: mix race children

creators

1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Waal, Kit de
   • bioText: Kit de Waal is an award-winning short story writer. She was born in Birmingham, UK, to an Irish mother and Kittian father. She worked for fifteen years in criminal and family law and writes about the urban underbelly, forgotten and overlooked places where the best stories are found. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes University and is a founder member of Leather Lane Writers and Oxford Narrative Group. My Name Is Leon is her first book.
   • name: Kit de Waal

publishDate

2016-07-26T00:00:00-04:00

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title

My Name Is Leon

fullDescription

"Taut, emotionally intense, and wholly believable, this beautiful and uplifting debut" (Kirkus Reviews) about a young black boy's quest to reunite with his beloved white half-brother after they are separated in foster care is a sparkling novel perfect for fans of The Language of Flowers.
Leon loves chocolate bars, Saturday morning cartoons, and his beautiful, golden-haired baby brother. When Jake is born, Leon pokes his head in the crib and says, "I'm your brother. Big brother. My. Name. Is. Leon. I am eight and three quarters. I am a boy." Jake will play with no one but Leon, and Leon is determined to save him from any pain and earn that sparkling baby laugh every chance he can.

But Leon isn't in control of this world where adults say one thing and mean another. When their mother falls victim to her inner demons, strangers suddenly take Jake away; after all, a white baby is easy to adopt, while a half-black, nine-year-old faces a less certain fate. Vowing to get Jake back by any means necessary, Leon's own journey will carry him through the lives of a doting but ailing foster mother, Maureen; Maureen's cranky and hilarious sister, Sylvia; a social worker Leon knows only as "The Zebra"; and a colorful community of local gardeners and West Indian political activists.

Told through the perspective of young Leon, too innocent to entirely understand what has happened to him and baby Jake, but determined to do what he can to make things right. In the end, this is an uplifting story about the power of love, the unbreakable bond between brothers, and the truth about what ultimately makes a family. My Name Is Leon will capture your imagination and steal your heart with its "moving exploration of race and the foster-care system that offers precious insight into the mind of a child forced to grow up well before his time" (Booklist).

reviews

1. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     May 1, 2016
     When crushing mental illness sends a single mother to the hospital, her young sons become entangled in Britain's bureaucratic foster care system. Leon is just 8 when his mom, Carol, is taken by ambulance to the local psych ward. He'd been trying to care for Jake, his newborn brother, himself, making the baby's formula, changing his diaper, and attempting to rouse his mother from the drug-addled stupor she'd been in for days or maybe weeks. But when a concerned neighbor stops by and sees the condition of the flat, both boys are sent to Social Services and Carol is involuntarily committed. As narrated by Leon, the story gives readers a child's-eye perspective on family and addresses the impact of placement on everyone involved. In addition, since Leon is biracial and Jake is white, racial politics come into sharp focus. Once Jake is adopted and the brothers are separated, Leon experiences the resentment, pain, and fury that come from feeling unwanted, and his inevitable acting-out brings him dangerously close to trouble. At the same time, the kindness of strangers--among them his doting white foster mother, Maureen; her sister, Sylvia; and a multiracial group of cantankerous gardeners who grow flowers, fruit, and vegetables in a small community garden--allows Leon to develop a sense of self and take tentative first steps toward independence. Multiple secondary themes, among them learning to trust others, accepting limitations, and confronting what it means to be a person of color in a racist society, are also plumbed. Set in the 1970s, the novel further references actual events including the death of hunger-striking Irish prisoners and the riots that followed the police murder of a Caribbean activist. Taut, emotionally intense, and wholly believable, this beautiful and uplifting debut gives readers a hero to champion.

     COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

2. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     June 1, 2016
     Nine-year-old Leon, the son of a black father and a white mother in 1970s London, can't catch a break. His dad leaves when his mom, Carol, is expecting another baby with a white man. Beset with severe psychological issues and barely able to feed her children, Carol abandons them, leaving Leon to care for his infant brother, Jake, until Social Services takes over. The brothers are separated, and white Jake gets adopted, while mixed-race Leon is taken in by a loving old lady, Maureen, until her illness precipitates his move to live with her sister. De Waal's debut novel is exemplary in its portrayal of tender Leon, and his child's worldview of tragic events adds pathos to trying circumstances. Struggling to find support wherever he can, Leon even relies on a ragtag group of locals who tend a nearby community garden. Leon's situation feels unrelentingly bleak, making the story a tad too monochromatic. Nevertheless, this moving exploration of race and the foster-care system offers precious insight into the mind of a child forced to grow up well before his time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

popularity

107

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shortDescription

"Taut, emotionally intense, and wholly believable, this beautiful and uplifting debut" (Kirkus Reviews) about a young black boy's quest to reunite with his beloved white half-brother after they are separated in foster care is a sparkling novel perfect for fans of The Language of Flowers.
Leon loves chocolate bars, Saturday morning cartoons, and his beautiful, golden-haired baby brother. When Jake is born, Leon pokes his head in the crib and says, "I'm your brother. Big brother. My. Name. Is. Leon. I am eight and three quarters. I am a boy." Jake will play with no one but Leon, and Leon is determined to save him from any pain and earn that sparkling baby laugh every chance he can.

But Leon isn't in control of this world where adults say one thing and mean another. When their mother falls victim to her inner demons, strangers suddenly take Jake away; after all, a white baby is easy to adopt, while a half-black, nine-year-old faces a less certain fate....

sortTitle

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publisher

Simon & Schuster

bisacCodes

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   • description: Fiction / General
2. • code: FIC043000
   • description: Fiction / Coming of Age
3. • code: FIC045000
   • description: Fiction / Family Life / General