''On the first day at my new school, my teacher, Miss Soria, gave me a sticker that said Rene Colato. The sticker was missing my second last name. Maybe Miss Soria's pen ran out of ink. I took my pencil and added it. Now it looked right: Rene Colato Lainez.''
Young Rene is from El Salvador, and he doesn't understand why his name has to be different in the United States. When he writes Colato, he sees his paternal grandparents, Rene and Amelia. When he writes Lainez, he sees his maternal grandparents, Angela and Julio. Without his second ''like a hamburger without the meat or a pizza without cheese or a hot dog without a wiener.''
His new classmates giggle when Rene tells them his name. ''That's a long dinosaur name,'' one says. ''Your name is longer than an anaconda,'' another laughs. But Rene doesn't want to lose the part of him that comes from his mother's family. So when the students are given a project to create a family tree, Rene is determined to explain the importance of using both of his last names. On the day of his presentation, Rene explains that he is as hard working as Abuelo Rene, who is a farmer, and as creative as his Abuela Amelia, who is a potter. He can tell stories like his Abuelo Julio and enjoys music like his Abuela Angela.
This charming bilingual picture book for children ages 4 - 8 combines the winning team of author Rene Colato Lainez and illustrator Fabiola Graullera Ramirez, and follows their award-winning collaboration, I Am Rene, the Boy / Soy Rene, el nino. With whimsical illustrations and entertaining text, this sequel is sure to please fans and gain many new ones while explaining an important Hispanic cultural tradition....

Together a little boy and his grandma discover a world of language and realize that loved ones have special ways of understanding each other....

Young René’s teacher is calling role one morning, and René is dismayed to hear someone else answer to his name. It’s not only that he thought he was the only person with that name, but also that the new student who answers is a girl. That afternoon his classmates tease, "René has a girl’s name."

After discussing it with Mamá and Papá, René decides, "My name is so beautiful that a girl copied it from me," not the other way around. But the next day the new girl sits next to him…is behind him every time they line up…shares her apple with him…and at recess tells him she wants to be his best friend. . . everywhere he turns, there’s René the girl.

One day at the library, René discovers a book called The Meaning of Names. With the book tucked under his arm, René endeavors to win the first writing contest of the school year.

Complimented by playful illustrations, this bilingual picture book follows Colato Laínez’s own experiences, when he was faced with a challenge to his own name as a child. This witty story about a young boy’s odyssey to find out the meaning of his name will challenge readers aged 3 to 7 to chart cross-cultural differences by gaining an understanding about themselves and the people around them....