The Story Of You product reviews

All too often I will check the news and see that there would be yet again another story about someone getting hurt or bullied because they have been discriminated against for something that is usually against their powers. I have bought up my children to be inclusive of people regardless of their race, or any types of disabilities, and I would like to believe that they treat others with respect. When I saw this book, I knew instantly that it would be a good resource in our little school's library as we do have some children with disabilities in our school, and also some children with different cultures.

believe it is important for children to learn the importance of accepting that not everyone is identical, and that we all have our own quirks and differences, some of which cannot be changed. The cover page of this book shows some people which are of different races, different abilities, and all look different with hair colour and eye colour. This story is written in a rhyming way which my children seem to enjoy a lot, the main idea around this storyline is that we are the authors of our own unique story, and that everything you have been through is part of another chapter in that story.

The illustrations throughout are vibrant, eye-catching and realistic, and match well with the written words. The idea is that each of us is brave for coping with what is thrown at us, and the way that we make it through shows us an inner strength. While the book does not specifically talk about the ways in which the characters in the book are different, such as the person in the wheelchair, or the one with glasses, or the ones with different skin tone to others, you can see in the pictures that these differences do not stop others from socialising and interacting with them.

I think in this world where social media is so prevalent and there is a ridiculous amount of pressure on people to look a certain way, especially young girls and woman, as I have noticed with my young teen. I think that we as a society need to be more welcoming and accepting of all races and people with different abilities, overall, we enjoyed this book, and it did open up discussion around this topic of accepting people and not judging their difference. Just remember it doesn't cost anything to be nice!

The concept behind "The Story Of You" is an interesting one. Children naturally want to fit in; being accepted by their peers is important to them as it reinforces their place in society. Differences of various kinds can be confronting because they disturb children's perception of being "normal".

However, the real world does not work like that. Part of a child's maturing involves learning that no two people are the same, and that this is ok. Children as young as three years old can accept this if differences are normalised and accepted. The characters in this book represent several points of divergence: physical disability, racial diversity, various backgrounds, and attitudes ranging from adventurous to shy. Of course there are many more instances that could have been included, but there has to be a starting point. Hopefully the foundation provided will offer the chance for further exploration at home or in the classroom.

The characters are well presented; the drawings emphasize each child's individuality and his or her acceptance of self. Each child perseveres with the encouragement of the others and is able to participate fully within the group (and, by extension, within wider society). The illustrations are bright and clear; they draw the reader's attention to the facial expressions, which reinforce the familiar. Every young reader can pick up the emotions being expressed, whether happy or otherwise. In each picture the empathy between the children is clearly shown, through smiles or a shared activity like dressing up.

Although the recommended audience is upper primary and intermediate, Miss Five and Mr Four were well able to follow the ideas that inspired the pictures. However, they found them confusing in places and came up with some unexpected comments. Mr Four wanted to know why the boy in one picture was giving the girl a jar of earth! He also wondered who the author might be of the paper that said "My Story" as the boy next to him was actually holding the pen.

As for the text, the rhyme structure did not work for them as well as it might. Possibly this is because the children were a little younger than the suggested target audience, "Fierce" and "fearless" caused a comment from Miss Five, as did "again" and "been" - she is used to quickly learning the text of a story after several readings so she can join in with the person reading to her, but the closeness of the rhymes provides the starting point.

I think the idea behind this book is a good one, and overall we did like it. Our favourite picture was that of one child standing in front of the others with her arms in the air as she spoke to them, and the others all registering their approval of what she was saying by raising their arms in solidarity. For us, that summed up the message of the book.