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This book features eighteen children who showcase their family. On each left-hand page, there is a photo of the child and their family. The left-hand page also features the child's signature. This book does a good job of exposing children to different kinds of families. It could also help a child, who feels they live with a "different" family, accept and appreciate the family they have. The book also reassures children that they are not the only ones who live in a non-traditional family by explaining family differences from the perspective of a child. A weakness of this book is that it features a lesbian family and a foster family, which could raise questions in younger children.

This is a story about a little girl who likes to be unique. She wears a pony tail in her hair even though the rest of the girls at school wear their hair different. The girls in her class make fun of her, but she does not care. The next day they will come into school wearing their hair the exact same way that Stephanie does. She feels very angry that the girls are copying her, so she changes her hair style. No matter what silly way she does it , they always copy. In the end it doesn't end up so good for the "copy cats".

Katherine Imler 1399 Lafayette Road New Enterprise, PA 16664 March 7, 2008 Robert Munsch 15 Sharon Place Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1H 7V2 Dear Mr. Munsch, I am pleased to announce that you have won the Susan B. Anthony Award for Celebrating Strong Female Characters for your book Stephanie's Ponytail. The award was created for a class project in my children's literature class. I am a junior at Penn State Altoona who is majoring in elementary and kindergarten education. I am in my language and literacy education block. Every student in my class created an award that dealt with an aspect of children's literature. Each student nominated books for the other students' awards. Each award had specific criteria that the nominated book had to meet. My award was to be given to a picture book that featured strong and empowered female characters. Many children's books show girls who are passive and dependent. Also, children's books usually show males as the problem solvers. This is disturbing considering the day and age we live in. Shirley B. Ernst author of the article "Gender Issues in Books for Children and Young Adults" said, "I would like to see more books with strong female characters who are active, inventive, and in charge of their own destinies." Nominations for this award had to show independent and non-stereotypical female characters. The book also had to be a picture book for children in kindergarten through second grade. I chose Stephanie's Ponytail for my award because the book features a strong female character that stands up to group conformity. She does not want to look like everyone else, but instead be her own individual person. Your book teaches children the importance of liking who they are. Another reason I picked your book is that its message is universal. The theme could be the same regardless of what time period or location the book was written about. Many children can relate to this book. Chi

This book is a wonderful book to address a major issue in growing up, self-esteem. Curtis shows kids that feeling good means liking yourself the way you are. I'm Gonna Like Me celebrates kids differences such as, body type, missing teeth and personal style choices. This book teaches children to love themselves even if they make a mistake, don't know the right answer or get picked last in gym class. It encourages a healthy view of ones self, establishes a sense self worth and a positive outlook on life.  This book is an all around perfect book to teach self esteem, and the pictures make it even better.

Dear Jamie Lee Curtis,      Congratulations! My name is Brittney Ward, and I am pleased to inform you that your book, I'm Gonna Like Me, has been chosen as the recipient of the Kira Elizabeth Award for excellence in children's literature about growing up.      This award was created as part of an assignment in the Elementary Education block courses at Penn State University - Altoona Campus. Each student's task was to create an award for some unique aspect of children's literature and then create the criteria for the award. Our fellow students then nominated books for our award following the specific criteria. After looking closely at several nominations, we were to pick a winner and notify the author of our winning book.      The Kira Elizabeth Award was to be presented to a book that provided guidance to a child going through the trials and tribulations of growing up. In today's society, children are "growing up" much faster than in the past. Because growing up is a part of life, I wanted the book to be one a child could turn to when they wanted to learn about or take shelter in knowing the social and emotional obstacles that come along with growing up. Nominations had to include appropriate facts, reassurances, or guidance on how to deal with the social, emotional, and/or personal changes children age's 5-9 experience growing up, such as how to make friends, getting along with classmates, understanding their feelings, etc.      This award is in honor of a little girl named Kira Elizabeth Angello. She is three years old and, in my opinion, is growing up entirely too fast. I watch her from time to time and she loves books. Her mother always wants to make sure that she has high self-esteem and that she loves who she is. Therefore, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to 'shop around' for books that deal with that issue. In the wo

Myers' fun picture book about a junkyard dog turned celebrated blues musician works wonderfully as a book/cassette kit thanks to Charles Turner's spirited narration and Mark Dog" Deffenbaugh's bluesy guitar strumming. Turner's energetic narration keeps the story humming along. Deffenbaugh's guitar work pleases the ear, and his performance of 'The New York City Blues' is the program's highlight. This story about the joys of blues music has found a format that serves it very well. This story is very strong in showing how the arts can be very fun and that there is a wide range of different arts activities you can be involved in. From a teachers point of view, I think it might open children's eyes to want to give singing, dancing, or even acting a go. This book can found at Barnes&Nobles. Enjoy (;

This beautiful picture book from Pamela Munoz Ryan describes the life of Marian Anderson, one of this century's most celebrated singers. This book could be inspirational for a child who may have obstacles to success, whether the obstacles be racism, sexism, or classism. Because Marian is recognized for her talent and because she is willing to work hard and take risks, she finds many opportunities to share her talents with others. Because she is strong enough to stand firm against racism, she finds a larger audience than she could have ever imagined.

Papa's Latkes is a fantastic story about a family growing up without a mother. This is a heartwarming book about a family of two girls, Selma and Dora, and their dad who are celebrating Chanukah without their mother for the very first time. Obviously, the girls have a hard time dealing with the situation. As they are making latkes for Chanukah, they realize how much they miss their mother. Papa reassures the girls that everything will be okay, even without Mama. Papa's Latkes is a really important book because a lot of children have to deal with a parent dying and living life with only one parent. The illustrations in this book are beautiful. Also, Papa's Latkes would be a great book to have in a classroom because it is diverse.

Another website for the book is: http://michelledwards.com/books/picture_books/papas_latkes