Being Me

by Julie Broski

A young deaf girl tells what it is like being her, describing the things she likes to do.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

31 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2008

Reviews

[Kit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love yourself, you're great, yes, great message. Lacked information that was a big part of the story. In this case that the protagonist was deaf. Even if the author wanted to show it was trivial in the scheme of who she was as a whole. A couple of pages from the end we find out the protagonist can't hear in one line and that's pretty much it. In another line she says she talks with her hands then it's the end pretty much. She should have showed us how that plays out. Show us some signing, that would have been something.

[Stacy Chrzastowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grade Level/Interest Level: k-1st grade
Reading Level: 40L grade K
Main Characters:
POV: First person, little girl
Setting: N/A

This book is about a little girl who gives several characteristics of her personality. She talks about playing dress up, adding and subtracting, painting, doing cartwheels, being with friends, helping out with her chores, watching clouds, reading, planting flowers, cookies, etc. At the end, the little girl reveals that she cannot hear and that she communicates in sign language. I think this book would be most beneficial to young children because it shows that despite individual differences, kids can still get along. In this book, the girl still has commonalities between other kids her age even though she is deaf. She talks about how she likes to paint and read, just like others do. This would be a great lesson for students to learn about others and do an all about me project to celebrate individuality and uniqueness.

[Lisa George · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this children's literature book was very good. I loved all of the pictures in the book. I particularly liked how big and oval the head was compared to the small body of each character. I also like how the last sentence on each page (that had words) ended with blank black being me. I thought that style of writing made this book more enjoyable and rhythmic.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fun cartoon illustrations were very entertaining as my kids (4 & 5) read this book together. This is a good beginning reader book and I could see my children's confidence growing as they read the words they knew and echo read the words they didn't. It was a fun read and I love books that encourage you to like yourself and to be confident being you.

[Anthony Pate]

This is a great book to help students describe themselves. It also is an incredibly great way to help students with disabilities to learn to love themselves, regardless of their limitations.