“You be you,” urges this cheery rhyming ode to being oneself and letting others be their selves, too. Children with a variety of racial/ethnic identities live, play, and interact across the pages as the text urges them to be themselves:
You might be a new kid on the block
Or just another bird in the flock.
Stand out or fit in.
Look outside or within …
Just be you.
You are amazing at that.
The second half of the book then reminds readers to also “Let me be me,” and not to silence, label, name-call, or set boundaries for others. When we can each be ourselves, it concludes, we will be us … and isn’t that fabulous?
One of the children who shows up throughout the book has short hair and wears a puffy pink skirt and a blue bow, and seems intended to be a gender creative boy or nonbinary child. (I’m tagging the book both ways so that readers can interpret as they wish.)
Author Chitra Soundar’s spritely verse and illustrator Sophie Bass’s bright and lively illustrations combine for an uplifting and recommended read that encourages individuality in both oneself and others.
