This Is Me

Helena Harastova is a writer, translator, and mother. She graduated in Dramaturgy from the Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts, having previously worked for the National Theatre in Brno, Czech Republic. Her most unusual pastime is proofreading texts for errors in spelling, grammar, and style.Ana Kobern (currently known as Nastka Lisova) is a children’s book illustrator who is passionate about watercolor and digital hand-drawn art. Since 2024, she has been publishing under her new name, Nastka Lisova. As a mother of two and a lover of exploration, sports, dance, and music, she creates engaging books for young readers that celebrate the beauty and diversity of the world while helping them understand their feelings. Her illustrations feature vibrant color palettes, detailed elements, and charming characters, often reflecting real-life experiences. She lives in a small town in Ukraine.

"PreS-Gr 3–Paired concepts such as “hasty and brave” or “oversensitive and perceptive” are explored through illustrations that effectively capture the characteristics along with multiple examples of children who demonstrate these personality traits. Using supportive language, the author explores the ¬concepts and offers ways for children to handle this self-knowledge to improve in areas that might cause them distress. When discussing shyness, Haraštová provides five practical tips to overcome shyness while also affirming that shy people “are the unsung heroes of everyday life, because they face challenging situations and manage to deal with them.” The presentation is extremely well done and this title, while too long to read in a single sitting, will be immensely useful for classroom SEL instruction and other arenas where children are learning about what makes themselves, and others, unique. A variety of tips and support are provided, which will be appreciated by children and adults alike. VERDICT Celebrating the diversity of the human experience in language through well-illustrated examples, this title provides a plethora of opportunities for discussion as adults try to help young people navigate the human experience and celebrate their uniqueness." —John Scott, School Library Journal, Starred Review"Haraštová offers an overview of different personality traits in this extended social-emotional reference. An opening chapter offers key definitions (of characteristic, ability, emotion) while establishing the book’s live-and-let-live tone: “Everybody’s different!” The 10 chapters that follow each center on fictional children (“This is Fatimah”) and two characteristics (“Sometimes Fatimah is unruly”/ “Sometimes Fatimah is energetic”). Sidebars further clarify the nature of the traits while gently describing some of their positive and negative effects. Text boxes prompt reflection with the goal of self-awareness (“How do you know you’re being unruly?”). Contextualizing examples occasionally veer into stereotype (“Two chatty ladies were babbling”) and pearl-clutching (about a child desiring cake for dinner: “Just imagine what might have happened if she had succeeded!”). Elsewhere, though, there’s a subtlety to the pairings’ distinctions (shyness and thoughtfulness, stubbornness and perseverance), which are illustrated in painterly depictions by Kobern that include figures portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 6–9."  —Publishers Weekly"I thought this was a very insightful book. It goes through essentially the same characteristic, ability or emotion can be done in a good or bad manner. For example, while being talkative can be perceived negatively, being communicative is important. These aren't necessarily negative, but can cause negative situtations to arise. Illustrations are gentle with muted colors and not abrassive at all, and I think this would be great to discuss things with your child should one of the listed be affecting a child's life." —Sara Reiser, Librarian"Oh my goodness this book is absolutely wonderful!!! I so wish I had a book like this growing up. Honestly, I think the book would even be helpful to a lot of adults. I love how gentle this book is, it teaches you without any hint of judgement. I love that it teaches you to be kind and patient with yourself, you can’t help who you are but you can learn to not let your natural tendencies get in the way of things (like friendships)." —NetGalley-Reviewer