Self-Awareness and Personal Discovery Top Three Books

[KaraCouchman]

The Bad Seed by Jory John

The Bad Seed by Jory John is a story about a seed that has bad manners, and a bad attitude. I have fallen in love with these stories by Jory John. The book talks about the importance and power of will and acceptance. It is a great read for anyone trying to navigate through our world. This book is for ages PK-3rd. The story shows how negative comments from others made him decide to change his ways. The story shows that this does not happen in one day, he still messes up, but it shows the growth from the seed and his preservation to become a better seed. This book can help other readers because the seed goes from thinking he has always been bad. He looks back on his life and realizes that he was happy, had fun and had a big family. He talked about how a terrible thing happened to his family and why he became a bad seed. He then has this realization that he wants to be happy again, so he tries every day. Even though he still makes mistakes, he talks about how it is better because he is trying to be good. I think this is a great read for young children because they can realize how even if they make mistakes in the classroom or at home, that it is okay as long as they are trying to grow and be better. This book can help teach about others differences because it shows all different shapes and sizes and colors of different shapes. The illustrations show that we are all unique and amazing in our own way. The book teaches children to respect others and listen to what others say and to be kind to others above everything. It also promotes students to be a successful reader because it talks about the importance of school and the rules. It helps readers because the words and illustrations help promote growth for every child. 

I Am Enough by Grace Byers

I Am Enough is a book written for ages PK-3rd. This book is a great representation for multicultural reads. It shows a story through an African American girl, she shares positive affirmations to others in the story who are struggling with self-esteem and self-acceptance. The book celebrates who they are and it has themes of both acceptance and self-esteem. The book has poetry involved and talks about the importance of learning, growing, and dreaming. I love this quote from the book, "I'm not meant to be like you; You're not meant to be like me". This line talks about the importance of our differences because it makes us unique. The illustrations are a great way to show how to respect others because it has every kind of race pictured and it tells kids to love others and be kind. For example she says, "I know that we do not look the same; our skin, our eyes, our hair our frame. But that does not dictate our worth; we both have places here on Earth". I think this is powerful because it empowers self-worth and awareness in kids and encourages kids to understand multicultural books and empower them to be respectful. The book empowers readers to be successful because it offers poetry within a children's book and it teaches kids about valuable lessons and the importance of learning. 

Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

Red: A Crayon's story is about a red crayon that no matter how hard he tries he creates blue. Berry his friend encourages the crayon to cast aside his doubt and the labels. The book teaches about adapting, acceptance, identity, and self-awareness. This story is for PK-3rd grade. The story talks about what others say about him. It talks about the crayon's struggles. The book teaches readers about how our differences make us unique. The different colors of each crayon can represent a different aspect of a picture. Each crayon has a purpose and this book shows that you should be kind and respectful to others and not degrade them based on labels. It showed the growth that the crayon had felt and how others encouraged him when he figured out his purpose. This can encourage readers to accept what makes them unique and learn to love themselves for who they are. This encourages readers to be a successful reader because of the vocabulary and illustrations that encourage reading and growing. It encourages students to reach for the skies. 

References:

Byers, G., & Bobo, K. A. (2020). I am enough. HarperCollins.

Hall, M., & Miles, R. (2018). Red: A crayon's story. Library Ideas, LLC.

Jory, J. (2021). Bad seed. Harper Festival.

Kirsten. (2022, May 21). Children's books about self-awareness and perception. Children's Library Lady. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://childrenslibrarylady.com/self-awareness-books/