Self Esteem and Confidence Story Time!

The first book that I read for this story time was How To Find a Fox by Nilah Magruder. The kids absolutely loved this book! The fox is always several steps ahead of our heroine and leads her on a merry chase. I would ask the children where the fox was on each page and they had great fun telling me where the fox was! Sometimes the fox hid under a bush, was in the tree with an owl, was with a family of raccoons, or was standing below a tree. I love the message of the story because just as our heroine is ready to give up on finding the fox the author says, "Take deep breaths. Close your eyes. Take a walk in your mind. Now's not the time to give up." Then our heroine finds the fox as he looks into our heroine's camera lens. After all, "Some days, he(a fox) wants to find you!"

I had high hopes for Love Monster by Rachel Bright, I really did. But the kids were just not focused on the story, so I stopped reading it. That said it is a wonderful story about a funny looking monster who feels lost in a world of cute fluffy kittens, puppies, and bunnies. Our monster feels like he doesn't belong. As the author says, "But nobody loves a slightly hairy, I-suppose-a-bit-googly-eyed monster". So our monster sets out on a search to find someone who would love him just the way he was. His search is long, hard, and unsuccessful. He is ready to give up. But when our monster decides to give up and take the bus back home he finds out that the bus driver is a girl monster who looks just like him!

After I stopped reading Love Monster, I started reading Be Who You Are by Todd Parr. The children enjoyed listening to this story. This story features bright, bold, and colorful illustrations. It was interesting to find out that the art for the book was created on a drawing tablet using an iMac, starting with bold black lines and dropping in color with Adobe Photoshop. The book contains positive messages such as:
"Be who you are."
"Be a different color."
"Speak your language."
"Learn in you own way."
"Be proud of where you're from."
"Stand up for yourself."
"Be the best that you can be."