Beautifully Me

by Nabela Noor, Nabi H. Ali (Illustrator)

Overview

From designer, creator, and self-love advocate Nabela Noor (@Nabela) comes a much-needed picture book about loving yourself just as you are.

Meet Zubi: a joyful Bangladeshi girl excited about her first day of school. But when Zubi sees her mother frowning in the mirror and talking about being “too big,” she starts to worry about her own body and how she looks. As her day goes on, she hears more and more people being critical of each other’s and their own bodies, until her outburst over dinner leads her family to see what they’ve been doing wrong—and to help Zubi see that we can all make the world a more beautiful place by being beautifully ourselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534485877
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	09/14/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	200,040
Product dimensions:	11.60(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD530L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Nabela Noor is a first-generation Bangladeshi American creator, activist, and entrepreneur. As a self-love advocate, Nabela utilizes her platforms to empower and inspire millions of people around the world to love the skin they’re in. Her work centers around her passion for representation and diversity with a commitment to uplifting stories and characters who are often unseen and underrepresented. Globally recognized for her “Pockets of Peace” content, you can learn more about the power of self-love through self-care on Nabela’s TikTok and Instagram @Nabela.

Nabi H. Ali is a Tamil American illustrator who enjoys creating diverse works that showcase an array of cultures and peoples. His interest in illustrative works started when he realized he could help create representation in the arts and in media for minorities, and he is very passionate about working with characters that he would have liked to see when he was a kid. His favorite quality in art is experimenting with color and what the right colors can do to make a piece of art magical. His hobbies include drawing (of course), doll collecting, reading, learning about South Asian mythology and folklore, and researching history.

Editorial Reviews

08/02/2021

It’s the first day of school for exuberant narrator Zubi Chowdhury, a round, Muslim Bangladeshi American child. That morning, she witnesses her family bemoaning their weight: Amma calls her tummy “too big,” Zubi’s older sister Naya turns down parathas because she’s dieting for a school dance, and Baba says it’s “not good” that he’s “up to a large now” in shirt size. At school, a classmate says that a nonbinary student looks fat in their silk dress. Zubi’s confusion comes to a head at dinnertime, with an outburst leading to a valuable family conversation: “Sometimes we can be mean to ourselves without even realizing it. And when we hurt ourselves, we hurt the people we love and who love us.” Ali adds vibrant, expressive digital illustrations to this candid primer on body acceptance, a salient reminder to guardians of children’s emotional osmosis. Back matter includes a Bengali-English glossary. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2021

PreS-Gr 1—It is Zubi's first day of school. As she greets her family members, she is dismayed to hear her mother, sister, and father all bemoan the fact that they are too big or need to go on a diet. Zubi then witnesses a classmate at school being teased for being overweight and wonders to herself, "Why is looking fat bad?" Zubi internalizes the comment and returns home upset that she may become the target of teasing or criticism about her weight. Her family members assure her that, "Beauty is how you make people feel and the kind things you do." Despite the theme of body positivity, the message is heavy-handed and even contradictory, given the depiction of plump Zubi next to her traditionally pretty (and thin) sister Naya. Things are too neatly wrapped up as her family assures her that her name, which means "loving and understanding," will somehow translate to Zubi's having an easier time in a world not accustomed to acceptance of out-of-the-norm body types. The cartoon-like illustrations are exuberantly colorful; Zubi's family members have brown skin and wear a mix of Bangladeshi and Western clothing, while her classmates and teacher are shown as having diverse backgrounds. Back matter includes a glossary of Bengali terms. VERDICT This title is more for collections seeking strong depictions of a modern Bangladeshi family than it is a realistic look at body image.—Sue Morgan, Hillsborough City School District, Hillsborough, CA

School Library Journal

★ 2021-06-16
Zubi Chowdhury is thrilled about her first day of school.

She’s got a special outfit picked out: a pink shirt paired with overalls tailored in Bangladesh. She’s got her hair in a special style: two bouncy, perfect pigtails. And she’s got the perfect accessories: butterfly clips and bangles. Zubi feels gorgeous—but the rest of her Bangladeshi Muslim family doesn’t. Her mother bemoans her large stomach, her older sister, Naya, is on a diet in preparation for the school dance, and her father frets about how much weight he’s recently gained. Then, at school, Zubi’s classmate Kennedy calls their classmate Alix fat. Zubi—who illustrations reveal is fat—has always loved her body, but after this onslaught of negative messaging at home and in the schoolyard, she wonders if she’s deluding herself. At dinner, she decides to go on a diet. When she announces this to her family, her parents, siblings, and grandmother launch into a round of self-reflection that culminates in a frank conversation about what it really means to be beautiful. This warmly illustrated picture book features characters with varying body types, skin colors, and hair textures. Zubi’s slow descent from self-confidence to self-doubt realistically brings to light the subtle messages children get from friends and family about which bodies are valued and which are not. Zubi’s conversation with her family is a model for parents and children alike. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A spunky and sincere picture book about body positivity. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews