I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont

I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow

Rating: 4.5 stars

I am conducting an experiment.  If I read this book to Lorelei so frequently, until the message becomes embedded in her soft, pale skin, until the words roll of out of her smiley mouth, and until she can triumphantly leap as wildly as she does now in front of any group of people, will she resist the frightening abyss of middle school girlhood?

Sigh.  Lorelei's not much past 3 and I'm already concerned.  I dodged those years because I was wonderfully entrenched in horses.  I couldn't get enough of them, any my parents (wise them!) encouraged me wildly.  It was as if I put my head down to concentrate on my Dressage tests and, next thing I knew, I was in high school.

Over the weekend I read a fantastic article in the New York Times about an all girls camp that aims to readjust, if only a little, the self-esteem and pride that many girls lose during their middle school years.  What an understatement to say it's worth a read--click here to access it.  (The gal in charge is so inspirational!  I am asking for her two books on girlhood for Christmas.  That's right--barely August and I'm working on my Christmas list.)  Hopefully our little family and the larger ones in which we sit, plus our friends and neighbors and our soon-to-be chosen preschool will help Lorelei in these early formative years so that self-esteem is rarely an issue.  I think I'd be really crazy if I typed "never," though that is my wish.

This book is, as the inside flap says, "at once serious and silly" as it describes a little girl's ode to herself.  She declares her love for herself: "I like me wild. / I like me tame. / I like me different / and the same" while David Catrow's wacky illustrations impress and amuse everyone in the room.  This is a great book.  I'll be reading now, and tomorrow, and the day after that, and for every week next month, and then next year at breakfast for three months straight, and...