My rating:

Milo enjoys playing imaginative games with his school friends, but they decide what happens, and never let him be what he wants to be. Each day, he goes home feeling sad, and tells his mum about the character he played. And each day, his mum reframes his experience, telling him about all the positive things his character could do. This clearly bolsters Milo's self-esteem, as he gradually becomes more confident until finally he decides for himself what character he'll play. This is an encouraging, feel-good book about self-esteem, believing in yourself, and seeing the positives in an experience. This book uses positive reframing which helps Milo feel better about himself, and also shows readers how they can use the technique themselves.

Meek's text has a nice rhythm and pleasing repetition. Milo's experience of being told he couldn't play the character he wanted to, and having his mum reframe his experience is repeated many times in the book. The reader starts to expect this repetition of disappointment and then positive reframing. There are nice changes in the text that keep the repetition from becoming tiring. . . .

My rating:

Does genuine praise and positive feedback make a difference in the way a person sees themselves? And can a child who's received enough frequent and consistent praise learn to praise and encourage themselves when things seem to go wrong? In Hip, Hip, Hooray for Annie McRae, that's exactly what happens. Annie receives praise throughout her day, every day, from her parents, grandmother, and teacher, and she feels better because of it. But one day, all the adults in her life are too busy or not around at the right time, and she doesn't get the praise or attention she usually receives. At first she feels awful--but the next day, she encourages herself just the way others have always encouraged her--and she feels better. This is a strong, upbeat book about the positive effects of encouragement and praise, and the way that one can encourage and praise oneself, and feel good about oneself.

Wilcox's (Where Do Babies Come From?, Growing Up) text starts off full of energy, with lively dialogue, and this feeling continues throughout, dipping only in Annie's crisis, then regaining momentum and energy afterward. The text gives Annie great spunk, energy, and character. . . .

My rating:

It's hard to deal with bullies. Even harder is dealing with the impact that bullies--or emotional abuse--has. The moon felt happy and free until one day when she danced in front of the sun, and the sun abrasively put her down and hurt her feelings. The moon then found herself unable to dance and began to shrink in size, until she found some friends who all told her things they liked and appreciated about her--and then the moon could dance again, and regain her shape. How the Moon Regained Her Shape is a strong, gentle, positive book about bullying, keeping and regaining self esteem, and the importance of hearing positives, cleverly woven into a modern folktale about the moon changing shape.

Heller uses a storytelling voice with modern, accessible language. Her well-written prose moves the reader forward as she creates reader empathy for the moon, and makes readers want to know what the moon will do to overcome the sun's bullying. The text never feels too long, but sings with a lyrical storytelling rhythm. . . .

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Some of us limit ourselves by telling ourselves we can't do something, or by listening to criticism before we even try. But Tudley is the opposite—he believes in himself so much, he doesn't even question whether or not he can do something. He just does it. He accomplishes the impossible, because he doesn't know he can't. Tudley Didn't Know is an inspiring, feel-good book about believing in yourself, and discovering what you can do if you don't listen to criticism or doubt.

When a hummingbird drops a piece of lichen into the pond near him, Tudley picks it up and flies it back to the hummingbird. The hummingbird is appropriately shocked, and tells Tudley that turtles can't fly—which Tudley didn't know. A similar thing happens with a firefly (Tudley makes his tail glow to call the other fireflies), a frog (Tudley hops to reach the mother frog), and a katydid (Tudley rubs his arms together to make music), but Tudley just keeps doing the impossible. Then he falls upside down on a rock and gets stuck. The creatures he helped try to help him back, and when they can't, they keep him company until the turtles arrive. The turtles show him what turtles can do—retreat into their shell—so it won't hurt when he falls back to the ground. Tudley learns to do that, but he keeps flying—and after a while, the other turtles wonder if they can't do that, too. . . .

My rating:

Edwina the dinosaur enjoys helping people and baking cookies for them. Everyone loves her except Reginald, an angry little boy who likes getting attention for all the facts he knows. He makes a presentation in class about dinosaurs being extinct, and is angry when no one seems to believe him, but instead mentions Edwina and then leaves to find her. He becomes determined to prove that dinosaurs are extinct, and make her disappear. He tries a lot of different things, but no one listens to him. When he breaks down crying about this, Edwina says she'll listen, and she does—attentively. Reginald gives his presentation, and with the close attention Edwina gives him, he's never felt better—but Edwina feels awful. She knows that what Reginald says is true—she IS extinct. That's when she decides that she doesn't care—and Reginald realizes that he doesn't, either.

Willems (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Leonardo the Terrible Monster) has created a fun, entertaining read that shows readers the importance of believing in yourself.

My rating:

Chowder is different—very different from other dogs. He does things his own way, more like a human than a dog. He likes to read newspapers, sniff flowers, work on the computer, listen to music, and go to the bathroom sitting on the toilet. Other dogs don't understand him, and neither do people, except his two beloved owners. Chowder is desperate to find a place where he fits in, so he gets his owners to take him to a petting zoo attached to a huge supermarket—and there, he spots some animals playing ball. When he tries to join in, the ball snags in the top of a tall tree, and then his owners find him and take him into the store. Chowder manages to escape and to free the ball, and in doing so, makes a whole new set of friends.

The text works like a comic foil—its serious prose is the perfect set up for the laugh-out-loud illustrations. For example, where we read that Chowder has always been different, we see Chowder, a large bulldog, sitting on the toilet as a human would; where we read that Chowder tried to fit in, we see him arranging bones in the shape of a dinosaur as an archeologist would, while other dogs look on in astonishment. The text also works well to garner sympathy for isolated Chowder, and to help readers care as he attempts to find friends. . . .

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A blue boy who lives in a land where everything is blue dreams of finding a land with other colors. On his journey, he passes through lands where everything is a single color—yellow, purple, yellow, red—and he keeps searching, hoping there really is something more, until finally he discovers a city where there are multiple, beautiful colors. The boy is happy, until he realizes that there's no blue at all--except him. At first the boy shuts himself away, but then he puts his blueness out into the city, sending out blue ideas, poems, songs, books, and paintings that he shares. He enters the city again, and finds that it's got blue, now, too--and even more incredible, he's got all the other colors inside him, too.

This is a great metaphorical story about having something important to say that seems different from what other people think or believe in, and being brave enough to share it with others. It's about being yourself, following your heart, and accepting differences, even—or especially—in yourself . . . .

My rating:

The narrator, a bearded man, finds a penguin who tells him he could fly—even though penguins can't fly—until he met some other birds who told him he couldn't. The penguin believed them, and stopped being able to fly.

The man takes the penguin home, and together they go through laugh-out-loud methods of trying to get the penguin flying again, from flying contraptions to shooting the penguin out of bow to fastening the penguin to a kite, none succeeding. Finally, a flock of penguins flies by, and the penguin realizes he really can fly.

This delightful book is translated from German. The text is beautifully written and spare, with a wry, delicious, deadpan humor. It has just the right amount of text, and well-chosen words . . . .

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Walk On encourages the reader to learn to stand on their own two feet, get support, find your balance, let go, and if you fall, cry and get it out, then try again and walk without obstacles in your way. This is not so much a story as a cheerleading talk for both walking and living your life.

The cleverly-written text that can be taken both literally—for babies just learning to walk and toddlers that already have—and metaphorically, for everyone who's had to deal with any situation that makes you feel anxious or fearful. . . .

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Beaumont uses upbeat rhyming text to encourage readers to like themselves, inside and out, no matter what they look like. I Like Myself is more an encouraging talk from a parent or mentor than a story, but it combines silliness and joy to pull readers in. In the first half of the book the text can seem almost didactic, however, the messages are important . . . .

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Most of us can relate to feeling insecure or to being put down at some point in our lives. Otis, a dog and the narrator of this story, experiences both—he lets a mean-spirited comment from another dog affect him, until Lucy, his human girl, tenderly says exactly the right thing. The next time Otis is faced with the bullying dog, he lets the comment slide right off him, remaining confident in himself. This is a feel-good, encouraging book about believing in yourself, and allowing the positives from the people you love help to build up your resistance to negatives.

Harvey's (Dog Days: Starring Otis) text is written in first person, which allows the reader to more fully and easily identify with the narrator. Brief or partial sentences on each page help push the story forward quickly. . . .

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Shannon (No, David; Good Boy, Fergus!)uses a fantastical story to reach readers and let them know that they can be themselves, and like what they like, not just be part of the crowd. Camilla likes lima beans, but it isn't cool to like them, so she rejects them. Then she looks in the mirror and finds that she's literally covered from head to toe in rainbow stripes. . . .