Review: JUST LIKE I WANTED

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (August 24, 2015)

JUST LIKE I WANTED is not a favorite book of mine. I adore the artwork which is by Aya Gordon-Noy, but the translation comes off as a little 'thick'.  But that said, there are elements of this book that are going to be useful for some parents and this is why I decided to include it on this blog.

The concept is simple enough, there's a little girl who wants to draw the perfect piece of art. She wants it to be better than Lauren's (a girl in her class).  But we all know how that goes; perfection is elusive.

The little girl tries and tries and gets frustrated.  So she wads up her work and tosses it and starts again.

On the one hand, I like that she doesn't give up.  She starts over and over.  On the other hand I think having her compare herself to Lauren isn't a great thing.  Households differ in how they deal with competition, but in our home we tend to focus on improving ourselves, not beating some other child. (That type of competition comes naturally enough so OtherAdult and I feel no impetus to add importance to it.)

The story ends very well, with the little girl improvising. She uses the mistake to modify her drawing and then she cuts out the parts she likes best.  I think this is a good healthy approach.

As a mom of a perfectionist I appreciate books that can be used to discuss how everyone makes mistakes and that sometimes mistakes can be serendipitous.

Pam~

JUST LIKE I WANTED
by Elinoar Keller and Naama Peleg Segal

Reading Information:
Page Count: 26
no reading information currently available 
--review copy