Chil­dren’s

Glad to Be Me

Sara Blau; Len Ebert, illus.
  • Review
By – March 23, 2017

Hachai Pub­lish­ing presents chil­dren with a small but valu­able les­son in self-con­fi­dence and appre­ci­at­ing one’s own val­ue as an indi­vid­ual who spe­cial in their own rights, with a reli­gious twist: acknowl­edg­ing the role of God in each day’s achievements. 

In rhyming cou­plets accom­pa­nied by cheery, bright­ly col­ored illus­tra­tions, the book reminds chil­dren that they have many abil­i­ties and that they can use these abil­i­ties to do mitzvot and won­der­ful­ly max­i­mize their poten­tials. They can find these abil­i­ties and nur­ture them by sim­ply look­ing at the nat­ur­al world around them.

This is a good book for par­ents or teach­ers to share as a rhyth­mic read-aloud and then for chil­dren to page through on their own as it has wipe-clean pages. A note to par­ents and teach­ers and a list of sug­gest­ed fol­low up activ­i­ties are appended.

Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 3 – 6.

Michal Hoschan­der Malen is the edi­tor of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s young adult and children’s book reviews. A for­mer librar­i­an, she has lec­tured on top­ics relat­ing to lit­er­a­cy, run book clubs, and loves to read aloud to her grandchildren.

Discussion Questions