From New York Times bestselling author Joanna Ho comes a powerful new picture book released in the UK by Harper Collins on the 12th October 2023. It is about the beauty, meaning, and history behind the names of six different children – exploring their cultures and ethnicities, and emphasizing the importance of identity and saying names correctly.

My name is full of tones and rhythms,

melodies and harmonies, chords and cadences.

Each syllable, each sound, is a building block in architecture

constructed over oceans and across generations.

SAY MY NAME.

Say My Name by Joanna Ho and Khoa Le

In Say My Name, with illustrations from Khoa Le, six children from different backgrounds introduce themselves and convey the rich histories of their names. These captivating kids of Chinese, Tongan, Iranian, Navajo, Mexican, and Ghanaian descent also honour their ancestors and cultural histories.

Readers are taught the importance of saying a person’s name correctly, a key issue, particularly in communities that have often had their names shortened because they are viewed as too hard or complex to say. This lyrical story explains how saying a person’s name is the only way we can truly know one another.

• Hé Xiao-Guang (huh SHEE-ow g-oo-ah-ng)
• Ofa Kivaha Tupoumalohi (OH-fah key-va-ha too-ph-mah-low-hee)
• Bijan Hosseini (bee-SZAN hoh-say-NEE)
• Nizhoni Yazzie (nih-ZHOH-nih YAW-zee)
• Xóchitl Luna (SOH-cheet LOO-nah)
• Akosua Acheampong (ah-KO-see-ah a-CHUM-pong)

Joanna Ho, who is of Chinese and Taiwanese heritage and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, is passionate about equity in books and education. She has been an English teacher, a dean, a vice principal, and a professional development mastermind. Homemade chocolate chip cookies, outdoor adventures, and dance parties with her kids make Joanna’s eyes crinkle into crescent moons.

She is the New York Times bestselling author of Eyes that Kiss in the Corners, Eyes that Speak to the Stars, Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma, The Silence that Binds Us, and One Day. 

The illustrator Khoa Le is the award-winning author and illustrator of numerous picture books, based in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Her work can be described as whimsical, dreamy and with a bit of fantasy.

She is the winner of the Grand Prize Samsung KidsTime Authors Award 2015 (Singapore) and the second runner up the The Scholastic Picture Book Award 2017 (Singapore).

This book is very much a celebration of differences.

You can follow Joanna Ho on X @JoannaHoWrites and on Instagram @JoannaHoWrites

You can view more of Khoa Le’s beautiful artwork on Instagram @khoa.le.artwork