What do you love about you by Karen Lechelt is a delicate story about how we can find beauty in ourselves.
The little girl in this story asks her animal friends what they love about themselves and each one can come up with one thing that they love and how it helps them to be happy and appreciative of life.
At times young children can start to see faults in themselves and these faults seem to be noticed at younger and younger ages. My daughter was upset only last week about the fact that one of her ears was slightly bigger than the other. She was only worried for a short time and it hasn’t come up again but this book has really helped her to see beauty in herself and not to get caught up on the small stuff.
What do you love about you has been illustrated in soft pastel colours which gives the book not only a calming feeling but also the feeling that each character is truly genuine about what they love about themselves.
What do you love about you should be a book that every school and home has, being an easy read with descriptive illustrations, all children will take something away from this and perhaps find that a little bit of positive self reflection goes a long way.
After you have read this book –
- Ask your child what they love about themselves. Wait for them to answer and don’t push for more than one response.
- Talk about great things they have done and can do.
- Praise those positive actions throughout the day and celebrate the goodness they have.
- Building up your child’s self esteem while they are young is vital so that they can entre the teenage years full of confidence.
