Be Your Own Best Friend FOREVER!

by Gary Robinson

Overview

Be Your Own Best Friend FOREVER! is packed with inspiring tips for any girl who doubts herself or is the subject of exclusion or body shaming. Jayla, the confident young person sharing her advice, takes pride in being Black, Native American, Asian American and Latina. She steers readers away from negative self-talk with proven strategies: If kids are mean to you, make new friends. If a TV program tells you to change how you look, change the channel! Replace negative talk with positive talk the Jayla way, by replacing the voice of self-doubt and self-hate with the voice of self-love and light. With engaging illustrations and Jayla’s great facial expressions, the reader will come to realize that once she believes in herself, she will always have a best friend!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781939053343
Publisher:	Book Publishing Company
Publication date:	04/27/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	891,273
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.25(d)
Lexile:	580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Award-winning writer and filmmaker Gary Robinson (Choctaw/Cherokee descent) has worked most of his life to create Indigenous content in dozens of Indigenous educational, informational, and documentary television projects. He is the author of sixteen books, including eight books for teens in the PathFinders series. Gary lives in Santa Ynez, California.

Editorial Reviews

This is a book for kids who let bad comments eat away at them. In other words, most. Jayla is a powerhouse of positive energy on every page, and it sets the right atmosphere to support the message. It builds self-esteem and explains why kids should love themselves.

Bookworm For Kids

05/01/2021

K-Gr 4—A bold self-love journey inspired by friend of the author and real-life kid Jayla Rose. In this hyper-positive picture book, Jayla is a no-nonsense girl who is proud of her Black, Native American, Asian American, and Latina identity. Jayla has something to say to all young girls out there, so you'd better listen up. Addressing negative self-talk, peer pressure, positive affirmations, and harmful messages girls get from the media, Jayla encourages girls to be their own best friend, offering tips and tricks for loving themselves first and unconditionally. The spare text provides confidence-boosting mantras, as well as simple but concrete ideas for girls on how to reject negative words and ideas: "If your inner voice says those negative things, TURN IT OFF! If your friends tell you those negative things, GET NEW FRIENDS!" Moments of awkward rhyming feel disjointed compared with the bulk of the text, which does not rhyme. Digitally texturized photos of Jayla are superimposed on technicolor, patterned backgrounds for a Pop Art-inspired feel that packs a graphic punch and will appeal to readers of a wide age range. VERDICT Readers of all backgrounds will cherish and celebrate the relatable, affirming messages that burst from these pages.—Allison Staley, Lake Oswego P.L., OR

School Library Journal

★ 2021-01-27
Inspired by a real-life child acquaintance of the author, this book aims to encourage girls of all ages to believe in themselves and know they are just enough the way they are.

Protagonist Jayla begins by inviting readers to a heart-to-heart conversation: “Okay, girls…I’ve got something to say!” She’s proud of her mixed African American, Native American, Asian American, and Latinx identity. She offers readers definitive steps to build confidence and self-trust, telling them not to listen to the negative messages they hear in their heads. “That’s called negative self-talk. It’s not good for you, and you don’t have to listen to it!” She goes further: “If your friends tell you those negative things, GET NEW FRIENDS!” Jayla suggests ways to practice positive self-talk, including a simple list of affirmations, and exhorts readers to embrace their unique characteristics. “They make you, YOU!” Robinson’s posterlike illustrations place images of the bespectacled, brown-skinned Jayla at the centers of compositions, disorienting, dark backgrounds containing the negative messages she spurns, including a bank of TV screens blaring such mottos as “Fair-skinned Girls are Pretty” and “Skinny is Best.” Other backgrounds resemble flower-power designs from the early 1970s; another literally depicts right-brain/left-brain strengths, with arithmetic equations on one side and exuberant paint splatters on the other. Jayla ends with a final piece of advice: “believe in yourself and be your own Best Friend forever!”

Girl readers will come away embracing their best possible selves. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews