What’s in a name? Quite a bit, if you ask Thunder Boy, Jr. Even though he looks up to his dad, he wants his own name. Besides, his dad is known as Big Thunder, and he is left with Little Thunder. As he says, “That nickname makes me sound like a burp or a fart.” What follows is a romp through all the possible names Thunder Boy, Jr. can think of to celebrate his own accomplishments, or what he dreams of doing. Most of all, though this book celebrates the relationship between father and son.

I’ve long been a fan of Sherman Alexie’s novels, so when I saw his name on the front of this picture book, Thunder Boy Jr. (Little, Brown and Company, 2016), I had to grab it. (No worries, no children were harmed in this library grab.) Just like in his novels, Alexie’s prose dances across the page. This book would be a hoot to read aloud. I also loved the illustrations, especially the contrast between dark and light. Yuyi Morales’s work is new to me (primarily because I am not as familiar with picture books), but I am not surprised to learn that she has already earned a Caldecott honor for an earlier book.

Besides being a fun book to read and share and look at, this book inspires me to write and invite others to write with me:

• What is the story of your name? My mom filled me in on more details of where my name came from that went back more generations than I knew.
• What name would you choose for yourself to mark your accomplishments or dreams? I suspect my daughter would dub me “Crazy Chicken Lady.”

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