Wonderful Me

A First Guide to Taking Care of Yourself

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Pub Date 7 May 2024 | Archive Date 22 Mar 2024

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Description

Discover simple ways children can look after themselves, from naming feelings and moving their body, to building boundaries, and caring for their friends!

Learning to look after yourself is an important part of growing up, and it can also be fun! By being mindful of their mental, physical, and social wellbeing, children can be more confident in navigating tricky situations and new experiences. Whether it is taking care of their senses, learning about respect, or unwinding when they feel overwhelmed, this book is packed full of helpful ideas and tips for little ones and their grown-ups.
 
Written by clinical psychologist and author, Nancy Shapiro, who believes that teaching children how to care for themselves can help them in later life, this book’s impactful information is balanced out by cute and bright illustrations from Vânia Sacramento.

This book will teach little ones about:
 
  • Sleep
  • Caring for their senses
  • Nutritious food
  • Being active
  • Learning new skills
  • What to do when something doesn’t feel right
  • Checking in with their body
  • Friendships
  • Boundaries
  • Time alone and time with others
  • Asking for help
  • Knowing their opinion and how to say ‘no’
  • Expecting respect
  • Naming their feelings
  • Communication
  • Caring for other people
  • Unwinding


Wonderful Me is a fantastic first introduction for kids to key topics and skills that will help them to care for themselves as they grow and navigate the world they live in. With a sunny and cheerful color scheme, this book is comforting yet revolutionary, at a time when it’s becoming more important than ever to teach children these vital skills.
Discover simple ways children can look after themselves, from naming feelings and moving their body, to building boundaries, and caring for their friends!

Learning to look after yourself is an...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780711287570
PRICE US$16.99 (USD)
PAGES 48

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Average rating from 73 members


Featured Reviews

This is an awesome books for showing and telling little ones how to take care of their body. Even reading it as an adult, it was an educational reminder to things we already know but may over look or not think about daily. I love all the illustrations! This book is filled with alot of great information.

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Wonderful Me is a beautiful and informative book for children of a variety of ages to learn about self care, with a focus on body, relationships and feelings. The text is punchy, motivating and chunked for ease of accessibility. Concepts are explained in an easy to understand way and are linked to helpful strategies.

There’s a lovely thread of normalisation and validation throughout the book, gently balanced with encouraging children to take steps to increase their autonomy and independence through self care. The cover was bright and welcoming, and drew me in. The illustrations are full of energy and inspiration, displaying a diverse group of children, and catering for different experiences.

I think this is a great book for young kids to enjoy with their grownups, and slightly older kids to keep as a quick reference for tips. Honestly, us grownups could also use this as a helpful refresher, given self care is a lifelong learning!

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

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This book covers it all. I like the simple explanations that include important details. The simple but colorful illustrations that help add to the meaning of the pages. All of these topics are so important. I will recommend this book for caregivers to use at home to build a foundation of the conversations we have at school in our social emotional learning lessons.

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Love, love, love this book for our homeschool. It not only give a kid friendly definition of the word, it also gives examples. The pictures keep the kids entertained as well.

Thank you Nancy Shapiro and NetGalley for the ARC of this book

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Myself and my almost 8 year old really enjoyed this book. The illustrations are stunning and very useful for little ones who can’t read yet, they still are able to understand the gist of the book. It goes over a wide range of self care and life lessons. I really like all the diverse representation also. I will absolutely search for a physical copy of this book when published. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy!

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Wonderful Me, written by Nancy Shapiro, is a book written for preschool and younger elementary school students to read with a caregiver or family member. This is a wonderful book about self care, how to recognize what our body and mind needs, and ways to set boundaries and ask for and receive help. I also appreciated that this book includes children with various backgrounds and abilities to make it more inclusive to different groups of children. As a preschool paraprofessional, I would definitely recommend this book! Thank you to NegGalley and to the author and publisher of this book for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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What a beautifully illustrated, poignantly written book that covers such important topics of self-love in such an easy-to-read way for young children.

The book has beautiful illustrations, whilst dividing up the idea of self-care into bite-sized chunks, which children can understand easily without feeling overwhelmed.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with children.

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This book was fantastic. I am a student teacher and a daycare teacher and I would definitely read this to my students. I love how the language is easy to understand and there not too many big words. The diversity and inclusion in this book made my smile so much. I am huge lover of inclusion and will always fight for inclusion. So for a book about self care to have inclusion in it is amazing. Overall this book is on the top of my list. Will most definitely be purchasing once it’s published.

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What an important story with fun and lovely illustrations. This is the story that I needed as a child. It not only teaches why it is so important to care for yourself but it goes into detail of how you can do it! It starts with things that may seem simple like physically caring for yourself but also goes into setting up healthy boundaries. and how we can love ourselves well in different aspects of our lives. This will be a book I will get for my classroom and future children.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!

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You know it's a good children's book when you wish you had the book when you were younger. This book teaches not only basics of taking care of yourself like to eat nutritious food and to do healthy movements, but also not talked enough about topics like to listen to your body and how to give consent from a young age.

I loved how overall the book explained its advice in easily digestible chunks. Kids don't like to be told to do things without knowing the "why" of it all, and this book differs from books that order kids around or teach out of fright. This book is instead taught out of compassion, with the main throughline to trust and listen to your body and your own emotions. Teaching kids in this way fosters healthy habits towards eating instead of viewing food as something to feel "guilty" over. Letting a kid listen to their body to put on a coat in the winter will usually work better than simply ordering a kid to do so.

The section on boundaries and consent are some of the most important parts of the book and done in a very age appropriate manner while still insisting its importance. Too many adults need to visit this section of the book especially as it is clear it wasn't a strong focus on my generation and above for a wide range of scenarios.

The representation of varying skin colors and varying abilities in this book also added another level of inclusivity and education to this book. As a wheelchair user, so many kids don't know what to do when they see me, and this offers a great chance for them to see someone that looks different than themselves and ask questions to their adults in the safety of their homes without being rude in the face of a visibly disabled person. All characters are shown to live their lives and their emotions to the same extent, showing casual representation that we need more often.

The art style and colors are very fun while driving in the point of each page. I do agree the book is very text heavy, so making that clear to the audience in the marketing seems especially important.

New must-read for all kids, and honestly most adults could learn or need a refresher on some of these topics as well.

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group, Frances Lincoln Children's Books, and NetGalley for this e-ARC.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

Wow. I wish someone had published this book when I was a kid. In a fast-paced world, thanks to the internet, it seems more and more kids are dealing with self-esteem and mental health issues. This is why I think this book is very important. It teaches kids to take care of their whole body from an early age. I think this book should be on every teacher's and librarian's must-read list!
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Wonderful Me is an excellent educational book that teaches young children the importance of caring for themselves, including their physical and emotional needs.
There is so much information in this book that breaks each topic down easily for young children to understand. I appreciated the questions it asks children at the end of each page to encourage interaction.

I recommend parents/caregivers use this book as a resource to come back to again and again. It would be helpful to read one or two of the topics at a time and engage in conversation around those topics. Reading the entire book at once may be too much information for young children at one time.

Thank you NetGallery and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Publishing May 7, 2024

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I really enjoyed reading this book with my four year old song. The book has such a great message for young children. It is so important for children to start learning at a young age all the ways they can care for themselves and their bodies! I especially enjoyed the topics of friendships, boundaries, and checking in with your own body. Definitely recommend reading this with the young children in your life!

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5/5! This was SO cute and so helpful. I read this to my 6 year old, he was so interested and loved it. I’m going to read it to my daughter when she gets big enough, and I think everyone should read it child or not.

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LOVE this book. It's a great book to teach kids about taking care of themselves and all of the different ways they can do that. Also the representation is amazing! Would definitely recommend for older kids in the 4-8 range who are able to comprehend more why we do what we need to but it would still definitely be helpful to start reading it to kids younger than that I'm sure!

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Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of "Wonderful Me" by Nancy Shapiro. All opinions are my own.

This book is a great teaching guide for children on a lot of basic but vital and important things. I know I had a book like this when I was growing up and I still remember it fondly. This seems super important to get for any children in your life.

I love that it includes the importance of physical, mental, and social well-being.

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I love everything this book teaches kids! From how eating healthy and brushing your teeth is good for your body to maintaining healthy friendships. It teaches kids to ask questions, to finding trustworthy adults to ask them and confide in them to. Overall just a great book for children to learn things about themselves and why it’s important to do certain things, even if they don’t feel like it. (Ahem, brushing teeth, which is a struggle in my household. Hopefully this book will help!)

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Alovely book to help children learn the importance of self care.

This book is beautifully illustrated and talks about the ways we can look after ourselves as well as the importance of boundaries, talking to someone we trust and knowing how to label our emotions.

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This is a wonderful book for kids about taking care of yourself. Your Body, sleep, senses, health (including mental and physical), movement and learning and how to check in with yourself and so much more. This has fun illustrations and is all inclusive of abled and differently abled kids, which you don’t often see.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy of this wonderful book.

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This is a book I believe every classroom should have and I’ll certainly be making a purchase! I love the way it explores every aspect of self care in an accessible and child friendly fashion. The beautiful illustrations really being the text to life too!

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This book was such a happy surprise. I was immediately impressed with the illustrations and the font choice. It feels very cheery and readable. The tone is warm and encouraging. In addition to offering information and helpful suggestions, it also asks questions, giving kids a chance to think about how the subject just discussed might apply to them. This book covers important topics like boundaries, respect, feelings, communication, health, and other self-care matters in healthy, accessible ways. Because they're broken down into sections, it's easy to handle one topic at a time, if you want to read a small piece and then talk about it together. The characters shown in the illustrations are diverse: hearing, visual, and mobility aids are all pictured without being a primary focus.

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This lovely children's book was a hit with my 2.5 year old toddlers. Self-care (both physical and mental) is important at any age. I love the pages on boundaries and expecting respect. Wonderful Me also has excellent illustrations to match the quality content. Will be buying a copy when this comes out for sure!

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I received an ARC of this children's book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wonderful book. The pictures are very cute. And the text would be so helpful to children!

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What a fantastic find. It's a fun, educational read to help children learn more about themselves, how to properly take care of them, physically and mentally, how to interact with their surroundings, how to communicate their needs, etc.. They'll learn how to be well-rounded social individuals. Well-written text and cute illustrations. It should definitely be used in schools and other educational places.

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I see so much potential in this book!! I read some other reviews, and see that people are saying this will not hold the attention of young children, but I disagree. You have to know the right way to teach social, emotional, and physical needs to children, and I could definitely see myself using this in my classroom to supplement our curriculum. Would I sit and read this ENTIRE book with them in one sitting? No, but I don't think it is meant to be read that way. I would read 1-2 pages a day with my students and have activities to go along with each section of the book.

What a fabulous book for teaching children how to take care of themselves in all aspects of life!

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My daughter & I loved this book, i would recommend for children of all ages, it is so important every child knows how wonderful they are!

The illustrations are lovely too

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5/5 stars!

Wonderful Me is an incredibly well illustrated book aimed towards children all about how to take care of themselves in all regards, not just physcial. This was so heartwarming to read, the gentle reminders and words in ways of the various ways children need to take care of themselves reminded me as an adult that i too need to take this in mind. The illustrations were wonderful to look at too and the colours worked so well together and harmoniously with the themes of the book.
A few of the things i loved most about the book was the representation and it felt so effortlessly inclusive. Another thing i loved most was how topics such as mental health and boundaries were brought up. It is such an important topic for children to know and read about and i
appreciate how it was written here, not using any sort of complicated or confusing language.

This is something I wish i had when i was growing up and I am very grateful the children growing up now have resources and books like this. This is definitely something I will recommend to anyone with young children in their life!.

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This book celebrates what makes you you and I loved it! I could see children reading this with their parents and they'd really bond over it!

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"Wonderful Me: A First Guide to Taking Care of Yourself" by Nancy Shapiro is an engaging and interactive book aimed at empowering young readers with essential self-care skills. Through vibrant illustrations and age-appropriate language, Shapiro covers topics such as emotional intelligence, self-esteem, and healthy habits. The book encourages self-reflection and resilience through interactive activities, making it a valuable resource for parents, educators, and caregivers. Overall, it's a must-read for anyone looking to support children in their journey towards self-discovery and personal growth.

As someone that works with kids on their social and emotional learning this books describes concepts in a great way for kids to understand. Will continue to use this book in sessions!

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OMG SO CUTE!!!!

This book was the book that I needed when I was a child!!! I really love this one. So sweet, simple and funny read!

I can't wait to read this one with my nephew!

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Thank you NetGalley, Nancy Shapiro, and Quarto Publishing plc for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review!

This books is so amazing and developmentally appropriate for primary grades in education. In my public school preschool program, we focus heavily on social/emotional development and cover many of the topics discussed in Wonderful Me. This would be a great book to add to a social/emotional curriculum, cozy corner library, school library, etc. to reference when focusing on social emotional concepts. The illustrations are beautiful, yet simple, and very meaningful for children while also providing children with an introduction to taking care of their health and well being. I will purchase this book for my own children and read multiple times and also reference should my children experiences any of the topics discussed in this book.

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I received a copy of this from NetGalley for an honest review.

I'll be honest, this is full of good information, but I, an adult, was like OKAY, wrap it up. This felt like a lot of information and very valuable information, but my attention waned. I can only imagine the attention of a child, especially when trying to introduce these big ideas like "boundaries."

Maybe having it cut into sections so if the child's attention starts to drift, you can come back and tackle the next section the next day.

There's a lot in this book that is great - we go to the doctor when we're sick, we talk to a therapist when we have feelings we have to talk about. Boundaries are like a fence and we should all have them. You are allowed to feel however you feel. We have internal fire alarms and if something makes our alarm go off, we should tell someone.

If I had any notes it would be - the book tells us we should wear sunscreen to prevent sunburns, but we should just straight up wear sunscreen. It helps prevent skin damage and cancer. Not just sunburns. They also use a "fence" around a park as an example of boundaries, but when I think of parks, most of them are open in a field. Maybe a fence around your HOME would be more applicable. These are very nitpicky things.

My only REAL note would be when going through some of these topics the text offers up how the child might feel. I think this can cause the child to simply agree that YES they feel like that, or they think that! Instead of encouraging independent thinking. Rather than "maybe you feel like you don't want to wear your coat because you are afraid you'll get hot," it could be phrased as a more yes/no question. Is your coat uncomfortable? Do you get hot wearing your coat? Maybe break it down into more of WHY does the kid feel this way, rather than offering up an excuse for them when they fight to put on their coat.

All in all, this is cute and really detailed about a variety of super important topics for kids.

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