Review - Fantastic You

Fantastic You
by Danielle Dufayet
illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
Date: 2019
Publisher: Magination Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

There's one special person you get to spend your whole life with: YOU! Which means there's no one you should take better care of! When you cheer yourself on and cheer yourself up, you make the world a happier place. Life is amazing when you share it with the people you love: family, friends, and always with YOU!

Fantastic You shows readers how to develop and nurture a loving and positive relationship with themselves. Kids will learn that self-care includes positive self-talk and self-compassion for a happy, self-empowered life.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is basically a book about self care. Kids learn strategies for coping with their emotions in a healthy, positive way via a pleasantly illustrated narrative.

The tips in here are probably valuable for anyone, young or old. And the pictures are fun to look at, which will keep children reading.

Being a book from Magination Press, there are pages of fine print at the back for parents and caregivers. Am I the only one who even reads these things? I can't see most parents sitting down to read through the long notes that many of these books have, let alone adopting the suggestions (including putting your kid through CBT if they're not behaving like you think they should; what kind of self-talk is a child likely to have after their behaviour has been pathologized?). I understand that this is just the way this publisher's books are, but it's a little disappointing that pages that could be used for the main text are instead taken up by notes for adults.

Overall, this is a decent book about treating yourself kindly. Kids are likely to get something out of it, even if their parents don't bother to read the notes at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Magination Press for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.33 out of 5