Name Calling

  • Angel Child, Dragon Child_ by Michele Surat in which Ut, a young girl recently moved to the US from Viet Nam, is called "Pajamas" by a  classmate because of her clothes.  After a fight, the two children are put together by the principal to talk, and the name caller develops empathy after hearing Ut's story.  The book ends with improved cross-cultural understanding and some activism: a school fair that raises money to help bring Ut's mother to the US.
  • Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes (I think). It's a picture book with a good teacher (the music teacher, who all the kids love). This book also might work for the no-name-calling book list as well (the kids make fun of Chrysanthemum's name).
  • Losers, Jerry Spinelli
  • MARVIN REDPOST: WHY PICK ON ME?
  • Mina's Spring of Colours Rachna Gilmore
  • Misfits. James Howe
  • Name Calling by Itah Sadhu ~~ is a Canadian classic
  • The Name Jar  It's not directly about name-calling, but it seems like an interesting fit.  A Korean girl moves to the U.S. and is embarrassed by her name because her classmates and teacher can't pronounce it.  Other children in her class offer her alternate names--it becomes a class project to research and collect names to put in a "name jar" from which the little girl will choose a new name.  A boy in her class, though, is intrigued by the Korean-character name stamp her grandmother has given her, questions her about her names meaning, and even goes into a Korean store to have a name stamp made for himself (his own new name, revealed at the end of the story, is "Friend").
  • The Sixth-Grade Nickname Game_ Gordon Korman _is about a group of sixth-grade friends who like to give nicknames to classmates (and are trying to come up with one for a new friend), and their nicknames have far-reaching consequences.
  • THIRTEEN WAYS TO SINK A SUB by Jamie Gilson (grades 4-6)
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