Name Me Nobody

by Lois-Ann Yamanaka

Book Overview

Named after Emmylou Harris because her mother used to "do it" to the Profile album, 14-year-old Emi-Lou Kaya feels like a nobody in her Hawaiian town: "I'm not smart enough to be a nerd. I'm not stink... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786814667
• ISBN13: 9780786814664
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.5"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Teenagers in Hilo

Lois Ann always captures the true color of Hawai'i in her books. You are transported into the side of Hawai'i that is away from the big hotels and tourist spots. This is a great coming of age book for young girls and especially those who may have some questions as to thier sexual orientation. Von, Emi lou's older best friend, breaks away as she gets a new friend and lover who is her own age. This compounds the weight issue that Emi Lou already has and how she feels about herself. She doesn't understand being left out of Von's life after they've been so close. Lois Ann writes with a tender touch underlying the in your face and often hard hitting style she is a master of. Her style fits the life of young adults as they can use a hard exterior to mask their fears. Adults can gain alot from this book about what's going on with there teenagers.

Name me Nobody

Ashton ...1/6/02Period 6 I recently read a book titled Name me Nobody. Emi-Lou Kaya feels as if she?s a nobody. Her mother abandoned her at the age of 3, and she doesn?t have a clue as to who her father is or might be. The popular Japanese girls at school call Emi-Lou: Emi-fat, and Emi-oink. Because Emi-Lou is overweight she is very self-conscious. She doesn?t consider herself smart enough to be a nerd, but not quite unpopular enough to be a zero (she falls somewhere in between). The only people she can count on are her grandmother and her best friend, Von. Emi-Lou starts to worry about losing Von, when Von starts spending too much time with Babes, a girl from their Hawaiian Softball team. People at school start to call von a ?Butchie? (lesbian) and when Emi-Lou hears the rumor she becomes desperate to get Von back as her best friend.I loved this book. Although it started off really slow in the beginning, from middle to end it was great. I liked it because this novel explores sexuality, racism, and the troubled times one might go through in establishing their own identity. I also loved the fact that Von always carried a place in her heart for Emi-Lou. She went so far as to shoplift diet pills to help Emi-Lou lose weight and feel better about herself. My favorite part of this book was the ending. This was when Von discovers her true self, no matter how heart breaking it was to her family and close friends (especially her father). Eventually Emi-Lou gets over the situation and removes the wall she has built between Von and herself. Von never meant to hurt their friendship. Everyone learns to accept Von for the way she is. I recommend this book to kids who enjoy reading books with lots of drama! (Preferably for children 12 and over.)

This book was very entertaining and well written.

Yamanaka describes her characters so well that I feel like I know each and every one of them. She captured the pidgin English of Hawaii and added other bits of culture throughout the story.

A Tale of an Adolescent's Troubles

Name Me Nobody by Lois-Ann Yamanaka was one of the few books I couldn't put down. Being through the adolescent trauma of weight problems, school, and boys, I knew exactly where Emi-lou was coming from. As a child Emi-lou, dubbed Louie by her best friend Von, was abandoned by her mother and left to be taken care of by her grandmother. Emi-lou must put up with many hardships, mostly about her being over-weight. It seems as though whenever she does something wrong, her weight is blamed. Everything begins to change once she and Von go to play for the Hilo Astros, a woman's softball team. Emi-lou begins to realize the meaning of family, friendship, and love. She also finds that bonds between two people that truly care about each other can be torn but not completely broken.