Themes within Becoming Naomi León

While reading Alma Ada’s piece, Words of Jade and Coral: Latino Literature for Children and Adolescents, I tried to connect her discussion of genre and theme with what I had just read in Becoming Naomi León.

One reoccurring theme Ada discusses is the important role that grandparents play in many pieces of Latino Literature. This certainly holds true in Becoming Naomi León as seen in the character of Gram. Interestingly, being Skyla’s mother, Gram is Caucasian rather than Latina. This does flip the script in terms of how this theme plays out in this particular novel. Still, there is no arguing that Becoming Naomi León is a book about the value of family, regardless of Gram’s race/ethnicity.

In my opinion Becoming Naomi León also does a great job at what Ada calls “Celebrating and Transmitting the Richness of the Culture”. Since Owen and Naomi grow up apart from their father, their main connection to their Mexican heritage comes through the characters of Fabiola and Bernardo and the family’s “vacation” to Mexico. It is during this trip that readers (alongside Naomi) truly get a sense of how wonderful Oaxaca and its traditions can be.