I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem » (Ages 4-8)

Jamie Lee Curtis is mommy to Annie and Tom. Her husband, Christopher Guest, hangs her moon by making her laugh out loud daily. She hangs out in her home with friends and family and four-legged creatures, and although she doesn't look good in one, she hangs her hat in Southern California.

Celebrate liking yourself! Through alternating points of view, a girl's and a boy's, Jamie Lee Curtis's triumphant text and Laura Cornell's lively artwork show kids that the key to feeling good is liking yourself because you are you. Like the duo's first New York Times best-seller, Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day, this is an inspired book to rejoice in and share. I'm Gonna Like Me will have kids letting off some self-esteem in no time!

Publishers Weekly

The dynamic duo behind Today I Feel Silly returns for another lively, emotionally reassuring picture book. This time out, Curtis looks to the source of what makes children (of all ages) feel comfortable in their own skin. Cornell pictures the perky rhymes being delivered by a pair of young protagonists confident enough to shake off embarrassment and to feel proud (though not overly so) of personal achievements. "I'm gonna like me when I'm called on to stand. I know all my letters like the back of my hand," announces a girl dressed in plaid, flowers and a cape. "I'm gonna like me when my answer is wrong, like thinking my ruler was ten inches long," says the boy as both youngsters stand before the school blackboard. Ultimately, the author concludes "I'm gonna like me 'cause I'm loved and I know it, and liking myself is the best way to show it." Though the message is both catchy and effective in its delivery, it's Cornell's humorous, detailed, ink-and-watercolor illustrations that give this volume true pizzazz. She hits just the right note of fear-tinged bravura with the characters' vividly imagined antics. Their portraits, embellished with all manner of costumes and fun accessories (a fire-extinguisher-like toothpaste tube, an Esther Williams lunchbox, a "Dalmatian Kit" for polka-dotting pets), will delight the audience. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.