Acceptance Is My Superpower

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Synopsis

Young Lisa is teased by a boy at her school for wearing glasses. At home that night, she's upset and tells her mom about it. Both her mom and her dad then explain to her about how our differences make all of us unique and make the world a more interesting place. They also teach her about diversity and respecting other people's differences. Soon Lisa eagerly embraces her own uniqueness and becomes excited about sharing her new knowledge with her friends.

Review

Acceptance Is My Superpower is a children's story about a little girl named Lisa who is teased at school for wearing glasses. After school, she's upset and tells her mom about it, and her parents take the opportunity to teach her about diversity and how our differences are a good thing that make the world a more interesting place. By the end, Lisa comes to embrace her own differences, which boosts her self-esteem. She also realizes that acceptance of others in spite of their differences is a kind of superpower and is eager to spread this newfound knowledge among her friends.

Acceptance Is My Superpower is a cute, charming picture book that encourages kids to look at their differences as strengths rather than weaknesses. As someone who was teased as a kid for wearing glasses-among other things-I could relate to little Lisa. I like how the author discusses all the small ways in which we're unique, whether it's the way we look or the things we like to do. I was also happy to see strong disabled representation in the form of Lisa's deaf grandmother and an uncle who uses a wheelchair, yet neither are slowed down by their challenges. Where I felt the story could have perhaps been a bit stronger is in its representation of bigger differences such as race and religion. I was pleased that the characters in the illustrations have varying skins tones. However, race is never talked about and skin color is only briefly mentioned once. Religion is never mentioned in the text at all, and although religious symbols are seen in one illustration as a from of diversity, the younger kids at which the story is aimed might not even know what they stand for without an explanation from a parent or teacher. My only other little critique is that there is one place where the word "instead" is used twice in the same line, making the sentence a bit awkward. This might seem nitpicky, but in a story with so few words, it did stand out to me. Otherwise, the story is very well-written and the rhyming verses flow nicely. The illustrations are cute and appropriate for the story. Overall, in spite of a couple of small weaknesses, Acceptance Is My Superpower is a sweet book that I could recommend for teaching kids about respecting each other's unique characteristics and it might even help boost the self-esteem of kids who feel different, too.

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Alicia Ortego