ALA Booklist (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

The contemporary refugee/immigration story gets a strong child focus in this moving picture-book about a Sudanese boy who comes to America. After Sangoel's father is killed in the Sudanese civil war, his family leaves their refugee camp, flies on a "sky boat," and is settled in a city apartment as Sangoel starts school. True to the boy's viewpoint, Stock's bright watercolor scenarios, accentuated with thick black lines, express the wrenching leave-taking and then the combination of exciting new things (TV), as well as disorienting ones (snow, traffic lights, classrooms). At the heart of the drama is Sangoel's grip on his roots. He tells Mama, "In America I have lost my name," because no one pronounces Sangoel correctly. But after he draws pictures of a sun and a soccer goal on his T-shirt, people (including the reader) learn how to say his name. In addition, Sangoel inspires his classmates to draw picture instructions for pronouncing their own names. Many grade-schoolers will want to do the same after completing this moving story.

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

Eight-year-old Sangoel creates a shirt with a rebus (sun + goal) to help his classmates pronounce his name. Putting a face to today's Sudanese political refugees, the contemporary story reveals, with sensitivity, the difficulties children confront when adapting to a new country. Rich with patterns, Stock's expressive illustrations convey Sangoel's different emotions.

Kirkus Reviews

The authors of Four Feet, Two Sandals (2007, illustrated by Doug Chayka) craft another sensitively written, hope-filled immigrant story, this one featuring a young Sudanese refugee who finds an inventive way to break the ice in his new American school. Sangoel arrives in the United States with little beyond his mother, his little sister and his Dinka name—which everyone he meets stumbles over and usually mispronounces. Rejecting his mother's suggestion that he should perhaps take an American name, he instead goes to school the next day wearing a shirt on which he's written "My Name Is," followed by pictures of a sun and a soccer goal. His delighted classmates follow suit by turning their own names into rebuses. Stock uses transparent colors and thick brushwork to give her tableaux a sense of movement, capturing the apprehension of Sangoel and his family as they travel from a spare, dusty refugee camp to a crowded and snowy American city. Though a skinny eight-year-old with downcast eyes, Sangoel is such a picture of quiet dignity that readers will come away admiring his courage and self-possession. (afterword) (Picture book. 7-9)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In this uplifting story from the authors of <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Four Feet, Two Sandals, a boy moves from a Sudanese refugee camp to the U.S. with his mother and sister. “You will be Sangoel. Even in America,” an elder tells him. Yet everyone at his new school mispronounces his name. “In America I have lost my name,” he says sadly, and when Mama suggests adopting an American name, the elder's words “sang in his memory.” Inspired by his soccer team T-shirt (on which a ball replaces the letter “o”) the resourceful child draws a sun and a soccer goal on a shirt beneath the words, “My name is” to help his friends learn how to say his name correctly. Stock's (the Gus and Grandpa series) loose watercolors convey Sangoel's deep-felt emotions, though occasional collaged elements present some jarring juxtapositions (in the scene in which Sangoel and his family leave the camp, a few of the refugees bidding them farewell have photographic heads stuck on their painted bodies, while the others are entirely painted). A concluding note succinctly explains the plight of today's refugees. Ages 6–10. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(July)

School Library Journal (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Gr 1-3 When eight-year-old Sangoel comes to the United States from war-torn Sudan, everyone mispronounces his Dinka name until he has the bright idea to make a rebus of a sun and a soccer goal on his T-shirt. This simple story puts a child-friendly spin on a common immigrant experience as the child's classmates respond with similar puzzle pictures of their own names. Stock's mixed-media illustrations include scenes from the sun-drenched refugee camp, the U.S. airport with its confusing messages, and the family's new home in a snowy city. The diversity of the boy's schoolmates is evident in Stock's skillfully detailed watercolor and collage illustrations. An endnote gives more information about refugees and refugee camps as well as about Dinka naming practices. This picture book by the authors of Four Feet, Two Sandals (Eerdmans, 2007) is an excellent addition to the growing body of immigration stories for young readers. Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD