Don't Call Me Ishmael

From Mrs Willard - Have you ever wondered why some parents name their kids with unusual names? Wanted to change your own name? If so, you will relate to 14 year old Ishmael Leseur. All his life his parents having laughingly told the story of how they named their first-born son after a character from Moby Dick. Ishmael isn't laughing as he is bullied in 9th grade - he just tries to be invisible. When he becomes friends with James Scobie (a classmate with strange facial ticks and no fear of bullies) and finds himself on the debate team, he learns that words have a lot of power - even the power to overcome the bullies. This book was LOL funny. And since I had to bear a name that took me a long time to grow into, (and was used in a song about about a "scarlet woman"), I could relate to Ishmael's longing to have a different name and a different life. But don't take my word for it, read Don't Call Me Ishmael by Michael Gerard Bauer.