Genre: Children's 5-9
Published: March 7, 2023
Pages: 32
A thoughtful book about our insecurities and finding the self-confidence to love the way we look.
It’s picture day at school! All the kids come dressed and ready for it! But not Lola. Lola hides under a big red hat. She is just too self-conscious about her freckles- she has always been! But her classmate Nassim has a clever solution, and in no time, her friends rally behind Lola. Surely enough, the hat comes off and Lola feels confident to celebrate her uniquely, beautiful freckles.
A thoughtful book about insecurities and self-confidence, but especially about the power of friendship. For children with and without freckles ages 5 years and up.
I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review.
This was a story about a girl who was very clearly bothered by her appearance, as she choose to hide it every single day with a giant red hat. She'd even gone so far as to skip school on picture days to avoid having to have her face memorialized. But then one picture day, she forgot what day it was and went to school anyway. At that point she had no choice but to ditch the hat, and let all her friends see her freckles.
Now I found the premise of this story a little unbelievable, because no school would let a kid wear a big fuck off hat every day. I can get on board with unicorns and fairies being real, but this is just too far out there for me to suspend belief on. LOL.
The illustrations were very bright and colorful with that big red hat all over the place in them. They were definitely very attention grabbing. I'm not sure I'd want to read this book very many times, because although ultimately the girl's classmates accept her, freckles and all, it's such a shallow thing to be worried about without any prior events leading to it, and I just don't think that's a message I'd want to give my kids too often. Overall I give this book 3.2 out of 5 stars. - Katie
Natalia Paruzel-Gibson grew up backstage in the theaters and art galleries in Poland. Her mom’s passion for the arts inspired Natalia to write and create. After emigrating to Canada in 1990, Natalia was recognized by the Turzanski Foundation with a Young Talent Award for writing and reciting poetry. Her photography, silk screens, and art installations were exhibited in Toronto’s Nuit Blanche. Stimulated by her own experiences as a mother of two and driven to perceive the world through her children’s eyes, Natalia has been writing stories for children for the last decade. Her debut, Something Lost Something Found, which she wrote to help children move forward with grief, earned multiple awards.
Nynke Boelens is a freelance illustrator living in the north of the Netherlands. She loves adding a touch of magic to stories with her illustrations. Her preferred tools are colored pencils, ink, watercolor, soft pastels, and anything else that produces beautiful colors. When Nynke isn’t drawing, she’s most likely reading a book, walking in nature, dancing, or enjoying a nice cup of coffee with a friend.
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