Youth Book Club Kit Questions
Becoming Naomi Leon
by Pam Munoz Ryan
1. Why does Naomi speak so softly? Does she act differently in school than she does at home? Why is it so easy for her to make friends with Blanca?
2. What makes life in Lemon Tree so special to Naomi and Owen?
3. Which are the important friendships portrayed in the story? What does friendship mean to people and how does it affect their lives?
4. Look carefully at the names of the chapters. Why does the author name each chapter a group of animals? How do the collective nouns describe the animals? How do they relate to what is happening in each chapter?
5. At the end of the book, Mr. Marble says that Naomi has grown from a mouse to a lion. What did he mean by that? In addition to Naomi, which other characters in the book change and grow to understand themselves better?
6. How were the creatures shown on the front cover (alebrijes or animalitos) an important part of the story?
7. Why do you think the author chose to let Naomi tell the story instead of some other character or an outside person?
8. Why did Naomi think that Mr. Marble was the best person at Buena Vista Elementary School?
9. Naomi thinks it is good and bad that Skyla came back into their lives. What did she mean by this?
10. Naomi took Blanca to see Mr. Marble and then to the library to eat lunch. Naomi thought of it as a place where all the leftover kids came. Blanca thought it was some sort of club. What does Naomi mean by being a leftover kid?
11. Naomi kept lists. She wrote down things she felt were important. She had lists of “Things I am Good At,” “Splendid Words,” and “Unusual Names,” just to name a few. Why do you think she did this? What lists would help you? Why?
12. What if the judge granted Skyla’s wishes to have Naomi go with her and Clive? How would the end of the story go? Or what if the children went to live with Santiago in Mexico?