What Is Beautiful?

Children's Literature - Beverly Pegg

This is a very simple book on self-esteem with a multicultural focus. "Maryjean thinks David's ears are beautiful. David thinks Angela's hair is beautiful." etc. It ends with, "What's beautiful about you?" Opposite this is a page where you can look at yourself in a mirror. What a great idea! Each double page spread has text on the left and a very simple and rough illustration of the person mentioned in the text on the right. The look of the text is appealing-it looks like a child wrote it using watercolors and a paintbrush. The illustrations also have a very childlike look to them. However, a few of the illustrations aren't very attractive. As a matter of fact, they are somewhat jarring with the people looking very rough and not very beautiful at all. Perhaps this is due to the book's purpose of showing "children and the people who love them that there is beauty in everyone." A worthy purchase for its intent of building self esteem and its multicultural focus.

School Library Journal

PreS-With one sentence per double-page spread-"Elliott thinks Kristen's smile is beautiful. Kristen thinks Harry's eyes are beautiful," etc.-this book shows young children that everyone is special in his or her own way. Unfortunately, the presentation is marred by unflattering illustrations of children's and adults' faces. The hand-printed text, cloudy paintings, and too-dark backgrounds are unlikely to hold the attention of the intended audience. The last page, however, featuring a "mirror" that reflects the reader's face, is quite charming.Denise Furgione, Atlantic County Library, Mays Landing, NJ