Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.
This book is amazing. Full stop. I have spent the past 8 weeks in a Multicultural Counseling class for a Master’s program where we have been discussing all of the issues that are brought up in this book. As adults in this program we are deconstructing our learning of the patriarchy & colonization, reading textbooks written by researchers who have spent decades doing work in the counseling & psychology fields to come up with information on this, and we are feeling emotionally drained at the end of each class. This material is important and I have been trying to figure out how to explain these concepts to younger audiences in such a way that their entire identity isn’t crushed as it is forming. This book is that tool.
This book combines illustration with wonderful relatable narrative, blended together with honest definitions & discussion of issues that people don’t want to talk about. There are “activities” for more thought provoking work scattered throughout the book, along with quotes that are beautiful. In roughly 160 pages it breaks down huge concepts from the media to healthcare, but never makes the reader feel like they are being coddled. This is so important when working with youth as well, since they are much more likely to listen if you treat them as autonomous beings instead of children.
I am going to be passing this book along to all of my friends who have children, as well as all of the professors in the Counseling & School Psych program at my university. This is a great resource for children, but truly for anyone at any age. 10/10