Weird and Wonderful You

by Zaila Avant-garde, Kah Yangni (Illustrator)

Overview

New York Times bestselling author and Scripps National Spelling Bee champ Zaila Avant-garde encourages young readers to embrace what makes them different in this vibrant and uplifting new picture book.

We are the weird. The wonderfully weird, that is. When others blend in, we stand out.

Young readers will find joyful encouragement in this empowering celebration of individuality and self-acceptance. Through an motivating message and a series of inspiring quotes and affirmations, this book encourages readers to embrace their unique quirks and see them as strengths. It’s a colorful manifesto for anyone who has ever felt out of place or different, urging them to stand out, be proud, and stay true to themselves.

This book is a perfect gift for anyone who needs a reminder that being weird is wonderful, from one of America's most exciting and unique young voices. 

Also available from Zaila Avant-garde:
Words of Wonder from Z to A
Words Are Magic! (Step Into Reading)
Sports Are Fun! (Step Into Reading)
It's Not Bragging If It's True

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593568989
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	07/22/2025
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

ZAILA AVANT-GARDE is a New York Times bestselling author, and was named SportsKid of the Year 2021 by Sports Illustrated Kids. Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, she won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee, making her the first African-American to win in almost 100 years of the competition.
    Avant-garde’s spelling triumph is just one entry on a very impressive resume. Avant-garde also holds two Guinness World Records for her basketball prowess.

KAH YANGNI is an illustrator living in Philadelphia, PA. They make hyper vibrant art about justice, queerness, and joy using cut up paper, drawings, paint, and Photoshop to show a world where we are free. Kah illustrated Not He or She, I’m Me by A.M. Wild, a 2024 Stonewall Book Award Honor Book, and The Making of Butterflies by Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi. Their art has been covered by NBC News, Ebony Magazine, Mic, and them, and their poster work is in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Editorial Reviews

"A joyous, wandering book of affirmations for the wonderful weirdo inside each of us." —Kirkus Reviews

"Irrepressibly upbeat." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2025-05-16
Equal parts affirmation and call to action, this picture book from 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee champ Avant-garde encourages readers to celebrate the weirdness all around.

“We are perfectly weird and weirdly perfect,” says Avant-garde. She urges youngsters to challenge the status quo, stand out, and be themselves. That might look like peeling bananas from the bottom up, knowing the name for the smell of the earth after it rains (it’spetrichor), wearing butterfly wings, or simply taking up space. Tidbits of uplifting text bounce across each page, sprinkled with inspiring quotes from powerful figures who have marched to the beat of their own drums, from Dolly Parton to Mae Jemison. Both the quotes and Avant-garde’s prose serve to motivate young readers, though the ideas and themes are meandering, with little narrative throughline. Kids will revel in the book’s fresh, wildly colorful art, though the images aren’t always reflective of the text. Yangni’s layered, dynamic illustrations provide a paint-splotched visual feast. Characters who vary in skin color, body type, ability, and more, and from many walks of life, strut across swirling rainbows and through surreal landscapes, eagerly showing off what makes them different.

A joyous, wandering book of affirmations for the wonderful weirdo inside each of us.(Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews