"I'd rather be myself by myself than be with someone I can't be myself with".
Nikki Lilly promotes self-love, patience with yourself and ultimately sticking it to the man if they don't think you're good enough. In a world where social media tells young children, and adults, that being perfect is the only way to feel happy or successful, we need more people like Nikki Lilly being shared with young people.
What I liked so much about this book though wasn't necessarily the encouragement to be confident and believe in yourself, but instead that this book was completely realistic - there will always be bad days, losses and impossible situations, but there probably won't be situations which nobody else has ever experienced. Children often fail to see that, because in their innocence they just don't know how horrible and wild the world can be. Maybe sharing stories like this helps? Maybe it doesn't. But it certainly seems a much better approach to me to helping children see that they aren't alone in their struggles than the perfection of a TV advert or archetypal social media influencer where everything gets better with a good edit.
I think this is a great idea - bring on more Nikki Lilly to children's literature!
ARC provided from walker books in exchange for an honest review.