Name She Gave Me, The

Sixteen-year-old Rynn, named Scheherazade at birth by her biological mother, lives on a garlic farm in Maine with her kind adoptive father and her volatile and abusive adoptive mother. When Rynn sets out to learn about her birth mother her adoptive mother won’t assist her and she can’t access the official records until she is 18, so Rynn begins a quest on her own. On her journey, she learns much not only about her real family but also about herself. This engaging novel-in-verse examines love, family, adoption, relationships, identity, and friendship and is suitable as a literature circle choice, an independent novel, or for a writer’s workshop. Child abuse is explored in a sensitive manner.