"We already have two Marías in this class. Why don't we call you Mary instead?" So begins the first day at a new school for nine-year old María Isabel Salazar López, who is proud of her real name, and the Puerto Rican family heritage it represents. María Isabel can't get used to the strange new name Mary López, but she is shy and doesn't know how to tell her teacher. If that weren't enough, her mother gets a job and is no longer at home when María Isabel finishes school each day. María Isabel's struggle to adapt to changes, and to find her voice, is at the center of this inviting story exploring important issues of identity and understanding. (Ages 8-10)

For María Isabel Salazar López, the hardest thing about being the new girl in school is that the teacher doesn't call her by her real name. "We already have two Marías in this class," says her teacher. "Why don't we call you Mary instead?"
But María Isabel has been named for her Papá's mother and for Chabela, her beloved Puerto Rican grandmother. Can she find a way to make her teacher see that if she loses her name, she's lost the most important part of herself?