My Name Is Cool

2023 Storytelling World Resource Award honoree

When I was born, I kept my eyes squeezed shut so tightly that my mom called me Mr. Magoo from a cartoon she loved.
My dad said I was going to be bilingual, like him, so he called me El Señor Magoo.

Little Antonio has a LOT of names. Different relatives call him different names, but the real culture shock happens when he goes to school for the first time. A celebration of biracial heritage and cultural identity from award-winning Cuban American storyteller Antonio Sacre, My Name Is Cool teaches children to be proud of their heritage and the things that make them different. Different is COOL.
 

Antonio Sacre, born in Boston to a Cuban father and Irish American mother, is an internationally touring storyteller, author, and solo performance artist based in Los Angeles. He earned a BA in English from Boston College and an MA in Theater Arts from Northwestern University. He has been a featured storyteller at the Kennedy Center, the National Storytelling Festival, the National Book Festival at the Library of Congress, and museums, schools, libraries, and festivals worldwide. His books and recordings have won numerous national awards, and he is the author-and storyteller-in-residence at the prestigious UCLA Lab School.