Name Game: My Name Is Not Isabella by Jennifer Fosberry

"COME ON, ISABELLA!" THE MOTHER SAID.

"IT'S TIME TO GET OUT OF BED."

"MY NAME IS NOT ISABELLA!" SAID THE LITTLE GIRL. "I AM SALLY, THE GREATEST, TOUGHEST ASTRONAUT WHO EVER WAS."

"WELL, SALLY, BLAST OUT OF BED, PUT ON YOUR SPACESUIT, AND COME DOWNSTAIRS FOR BREAKFAST."

But by the time our would-be heroine shows up for breakfast, she has shifted roles. Now she's Annie, the "greatest shooter who ever was." Heading out to the bus stop, she announces that she is now "Rosa, the greatest, bravest activist who ever was." Her mom is seemingly unruffled by her daughter's identity shifting.

"Well, ROSA, MARCH OUT AND TAKE YOUR SEAT ON THE BUS.

And so it goes through the day. Isabella's imagination morphs her into the scientist Marie Curie during science class, and when she returns home and is asked to set the table for dinner, she announces that she is now ...

..."ELIZABETH, THE GREATEST, KINDEST DOCTOR WHO EVER WAS."

"WELL, ELIZABETH, HAVE PATIENCE WITH YOUR MOTHER AND USE THE NICE PLATES, PLEASE."

In her new My Name Is Not Isabella: Just How Big Can a Little Girl Dream? (Jabberwocky, 2010), Jennifer Fosberry's lesson in women's history goes down easily, abetted by an appendix with information on Isabella's alternate identities and web sites for further investigation. Isabella even kindly tips one of her many hats toward the role of "Mommy" as she gets ready for bed, ready to rest up to see what she can be tomorrow.

Name Game: I Am Not Alexander by Jennifer Fosberry

"GOOD MORNING, ALEXANDER," FATHER SAID. "TIME FOR BREAKFAST, AND THEN LET'S PLAY BALL!"

"I AM NOT ALEXANDER," SAID THE LITTLE BOY.

"THEN WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY SON'S BED?" ASKED THE FATHER.

"I AM THEODORE! THE GREATEST, GRANDEST PRESIDENT WHO EVER WAS."

"WELL, THEODORE, PARK YOURSELF HERE AND SAVE YOUR ENERGY FOR TODAY'S GAME."

Changeable Charlie has nothing on this little redhead, who is an obvious biography buff and changes his persona faster than the weather. When his dad tries to hurry the process along, our little boy has a mood change.

"I AM NOT THEODORE! I AM THOMAS, THE GREATEST INVENTOR WHO EVER WAS." "WELL, THOMAS, LET ME THAT BRILLIANT SMILE LIGHT UP THE ROOM."

Dad remains unruffled as his companion morphs first in to Chief Joseph, "the greatest warrior," and Fred, the "smoothest dancer who ever was," and just as they sit down for dinner, he gives his punster papa his best lines of the day:

"MY NAME IS NOT FRED! I AM JACKIE, THE BRAVEST, BALL PLAYER WHO EVER STOLE HOME PLATE."

"WELL, JACKIE, YOU STOLE MY HEART. NOW CLEAN HOME PLATE!"

And at PJ time, "Jackie" pays his patient papa the the ultimate compliment in his book; he's not Jackie, he declares.

"I AM DADDY, THE GREATEST FATHER WHO EVER WAS!"

In her new companion book to the popular My Name Is Not Isabella: Just How Big Can a Little Girl Dream? (see my recent review here), author Jennifer Fosberry and able illustrator Tim Litwin continue their famous name-dropping tour of some popular elementary school biographical figures in their latest, My Name Is Not Alexander, this time focusing on male personages. Pair these two to introduce a unit on biographies of famous Americans, abetted by Fosberry's brief appendix with biographical sketches of each of Alexander's alter egos and an ample list of web sites to explore the lives of his heroes.