I Love My Body Because

by Shelly Anand, Nomi Ellenson, Erika Rodriguez Medina (Illustrator)

Overview

All Are Welcome meets Bodies Are Cool in this picture book that shows us what makes every body special.

Everybody has a body and every body is good. Your body takes you where you want to go. Your body is your first home. And your body is different from everyone else’s body! I Love My Body Because is a gentle and poetic picture book for the youngest readers about celebrating your own body and all the different, wonderful bodies that make up our world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534494954
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	06/21/2022
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	672,245
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD520L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Shelly Anand is the author of the acclaimed picture book Laxmi’s Mooch, which was featured on the Today show, NBC News, and in Glamour magazine. Shelly is also an immigrant and labor rights attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her BA from Wellesley College and her JD from the University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill. She lives in Georgia with her fabulous husband and two adorable but also naughty children.

Nomi Ellenson is a photographer and body awareness artist in New York City. Her work focuses on celebrating the individuality and beauty of each woman she photographs. Nomi received her BA in psychology from Barnard College and is based on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her dog, Teddy.

Erika Medina is a Mexican illustrator and art instructor living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is interested in storytelling, myths and legends, and scary stories.

Editorial Reviews

07/01/2022

K-Gr 3—Children of a variety of ethnicities and abilities, some using wheelchairs, are shown in bright colorful illustrations doing various activities—playing, reading, swimming, running, roller skating, etc. Although the images are cheerful and fun, depicting a variety of bodies, and the authors' intention was clearly to provide a message of body positivity and inclusiveness, the central concept of the book becomes lost in the vignettes. It veers from activities ("I love my body because it takes me where I want to go," "It can swim, lie on the beach, and build sand castles"), to its capacity ("My body is home to my brain"), to reminders about hygiene such as washing hands and brushing teeth, and continues on to sympathetic statements, e.g., "We can get frustrated and mad when our bodies don't do what we want them to." Some odd juxtapositions interrupt the already uneven flow of the text, such as the sentence, "It's strong enough to decide what it wants to do," next to a boy sitting in a wheelchair. The language is often stilted: "Together, with our bodies, we can take a stroll down a boulevard." Characters are depicted with skin tones ranging from very light tan to dark brown. VERDICT There are better books on body positivity such as Tyler Feder's Bodies Are Cool.—Sue Morgan

School Library Journal