WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ME is a brightly illustrated, motivational book in which Danielle Dawn Falk reinforces the message that everyone’ story matters. Packed full of illustrations of smiling children who are proud to be themselves – warts and all – this book will put a smile on any reader’s face.
The illustrations in the book are a great visual accompaniment to the rhyming couplets, adding a hint of a hidden narrative to the text. For example, the couplet ‘Sometimes this world seems so uncertain, / Hiding behind a curtain’ is given context by the illustration of a shy pink-cheeked boy sticking his head out behind a stage curtain, presumably struggling with stage-fright. There is broad racial diversity in the characters in these illustrations, in line with the book’s message that everyone’s story matters but this would have been demonstrated even better if the characters were more diverse across other axes too, for instance, disability and/or body size.
The text mostly consists of uplifting lines such as, ‘I was born to be me, my own true self. I am me as can be. I am like no one else.’ While most of the lines were memorable and well-written, the rhythm was sometimes off, with different meters and numbers of syllables, making them awkward to read aloud. For instance, the line, ‘It is OK to feel confused and to be unsure of where you are going, / But here is something that is worthy of knowing;’ did not flow as well as some of the others in the story. Sentences were also occasionally overly wordy, where simpler language would have flowed better and been more age-appropriate, for instance in the line, ‘Trusting my intuition confidently, Believing in myself wholeheartedly.’ All in all though, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ME is an inspiring and uplifting read, sure to delight any reader, whether they’re a child or just a child-at-heart.
In these times of anxiety and uncertainty, Danielle Dawn Falk’s WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ME is a touching book that is sure to inspire children and adults alike to accept themselves for who they are.
~Eleanor Rudd for IndieReader