I Love Me, an Australian board book that will suit any toddler

One look at the cover the board book I Love Me by Sally Morgan and Ambelin Kwaymullina and you can tell it’s happy, full of energy and has an Outback vibe that we’ve never seen. Every page on this board book is corner to corner color with just a hint of enthusiasm that will shake up crawlers through kindergarten kids.

If you from Australia or are familiar with children’s books there you might recognize I Love Me. In 2017 it was nominated for the Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year. It was printed by Fremantle Press then, but in 2018 its worldwide rights were sold to Andrews McMeel Publishing. You say tomato I say tomato, what matters is that the book’s theme of self-acceptance resonates with kids wherever they are or whatever color they may be.

I Love Me has all of the hallmarks that make up a great, good-night board book. There’s rhyming text on almost every page, the words are printed in big font and are in a variety of colors. The book crystallizes happiness in a form that young kids can consume and presents a message that any parent will want their child to exemplify.

The two characters in the book also change appearance on a page to where they love themselves when they’re short, fat, tall or thin. Our eight year-old was complaining about something that meant a lot to him, but doesn’t impact anything at all. I told him that everybody has something and that something is actually nothing. In the moment I was quite proud of my deep, yet simple statement. Unfortunately our statement went over his head and he continued complaining about something that was uncontrollable and doesn’t matter.

I Love Me and you should love you, because confidence starts with you. Here I go with the pep talk again. But seriously, if you don’t provide kids with the lessons and instance of pure acceptance as a toddler when will they receive it? I Love Me is the sort of book that any crawler will benefit from and will hopefully pay dividends far down the road.

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