You're All Kinds of Wonderful

PreS-;K—A picture book celebrating the uniqueness of each child. Rhyming sentences share encouraging words, asking young readers to embrace their differences and to see them as strengths. "There's lots of advice on the library shelf, like,/'You're an original, just be yourself.'/Really, that isn't so easy to do!/You have to learn what it means to be you." Digitally created artwork features a cast of mostly white children, on spreads that feature full-page images on one side, and white space with simple text on the other, allowing the softly hued illustrations—embellished with chalk, watercolor, and pencil textures—to speak on their own. The young children on each page are accompanied by a different type of animal, ranging from pigs to monkeys, seals, and panda bears. The cover photo, repeated in the book, features a pig-tailed exuberant preschooler with Down syndrome sitting on a seal with multiple medals around her neck. "Sooner or later, if you keep trying,/you'll try on something that's so satisfying/your heart will start whistling/ and POW! BADA BING!" The book ends on a sweet note, with the author reminding young readers to "keep putting one foot in front of the other and/there is no telling the bells you'll uncover./And can you guess what they add up to?/The amazing astonishing story of you." This slight, saccharine text is paired with equally sweet illustrations encouraging children to be themselves, whatever that might be.