“Here’s the secret: I think I am going to change my name so it’s not Stella anymore…I’m not going to tell my parents, not until I decide on my new name. I have to think about it. I don’t want to get stuck with the wrong name.”
After she falls into some dirt on a field trip and some boy calls her “Smella”, Stella Batts decides she needs a new name, Her friends decide they need new names too and think having candy names would be cool. Eventually Stella and her friends decide to keep their identity and make peace with the names they were given at birth. Stella narrates the story in a conspiratorial style. She likes making lists and her lists are amusing in delivering plot and characterization.
For those who like Junie B. Jones and Judy Moody. 150 pages Ages 5-8 978-1585361830
Recommended by Alice Cyphers, Librarian, Pennsylvania USA
