Cassidy

Leys,
Peter Meiklejohn,
Carson Wendel,
Kristen Yager
Dear Families,

At some point everyone struggles with their own physical appearance, making it
important to learn how to love the things that makes us unique! These struggles are
different for everyone, and can affect people in a variety of ways. In order to address this
we have compiled resources including books and a film that help us to think positively
about ourselves.

Further to the resources we have included activities to help build positive ideas about our
appearances! These activities will have you work as a family to celebrate our physical
differences. It is our hope that in doing these activities we can work to reduce negative
self-talk, promote positive thoughts, and continue to grow a sense of self-confidence.

These resources will come in a backpack and the purpose is to get students engaging in
literacy while addressing the concept of positive body image. They are fun for the family
to read together or for students to read on their own. The film also provides a different
way for students to engage in literacy, stemming away from the traditional book. Thus,
the idea is to not only address body positivity but to also get students engaging with and
loving literacy!

Overall, we hope that these resources help address body positivity with your child and
encourage students to interact with and love different aspects of literacy!

Warmest Regards,

Your Pre-Service Teacher Team


We’re All Wonders
• Author/Illustrator: R.J. Palacio
• Published: March 28, 2017 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

We’re All Wonders is a graphic adaptation of the novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It is a story about
August Pullman who is an ordinary boy who likes to do ordinary things, but looks a little
different than his peers. Some people try to make fun of August, but when he hears that he
escapes into the realm of his imagination with his dog Daisy to fly off into space to meet all the
people who look just like him. This story is a heart-warming reminder that everyone is different,
and that we are all wonders!

Rationale: We’re All Wonders by R.J. Palacio is a picture book that is aimed towards younger
audiences but we decided to include it in this backpack because it conveys a very powerful
message. It is focussed towards loving yourself and all the things that makes you unique—thus it
was a perfect book to include in the exploration of difference and how we should be confident in
what makes each of us an individual. In addition to the incredibly fun artwork, it includes many
strong messages that we want to spread to all people who work through this backpack such as, “I
know I can't change the way I look. But maybe, just maybe, people can change the way they see .
. .”


Jane, the Fox and Me
• Author: Fanny Britt
• Illustrator: Isabelle Arsenault
• Published: September 1st, 2013 by Groundwood Books

In the graphic novel Jane, the Fox and Me, Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault illustrate
the life of a girl named Hélène whom is having difficulty with how her and others
perceive herself. Hélène is struggling with the idea that she is fat even though she isn’t.
Her being self conscious of her weight is a result of other peers in her school, which adds
to the challenges Hélène life that create this idea that she is overweight on top of having
no friends and seeking approval of her mother. As the novel goes on Hélène’s struggles
and realizations of her so called weight issue (which isn’t an issue) develop through
events, her mother, peers, reading her book Jane Eyre, and running into a fox. This
graphic novel visualises for the reader reality versus self reality of a person's physical
image. This book is perfect for anyone between the ages of 9 and 14 who love graphic
novels and relate struggle with self-acceptance and body positivity.

Rationale: This book is perfect for parents to give their kids at an independent reading
level, which subtly brings in the topic of body confidence. The graphic novel presents the
opportunity for you to have a conversation with your child about how this relates to other
body appearance. Since this is a graphic novel it helps kids who struggle with getting into
literature by getting them involved in-group reading with parents.


Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon
• Author: Patty Lovell
• Illustrator: David Catrow
• Published: August 27th, 2001 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

With the picture book Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, Patty Lovell and David Catrow
address physical differences that Molly Lou Melon has, yet embraces because her
grandmothers positive reinforcement. This comes in handy when Molly has to move and
go to a new school. Since she takes all of her Grandma’s advice taking on her differences
at school she is able to not let a bully get the best of her, which ultimately makes them
friends. This book is a great family read for kids 5-10 to help find differences for an
individual's self that make them an individual. This book tackles body positivity in a
multitude of forms such as height, teeth, voice, poor hand eye, etc.

Rationale: This book is perfect for kids who are starting to get into reading as it can be
read with their parent, by their parent, or even by themselves. It is perfect for younger
ages to help prompt questions for you parents to help kids with. You will be able to help
kids find positives to their physical qualities they aren't the most confident about. The
picture book makes the topic of self-acceptance presented in a very appropriate manner
with a fun tone to help see the positives of being confident in whom you are.


What I Like About Me
• Author: Allia Zobel
• Illustrator: Nolan Miki Sakamoto
• Published: August 30th, 2005 by Readers Digest Association

This is a fun and engaging graphic novel that discuss a variety of differences that people
have, such as different hair, height, ears, or even feet! These differences are what make
each of these children unique and they explain what they love about this part of them! For
example, one child loves how his spiky hair remains straight in the wind or how another
child's braces makes her teeth shine extra bright. No matter what their difference was,
they were able to point out the wonderful things about it, celebrating what makes each of
us unique!

Rationale: This novel is a quick and easy read so it can be read together with a parent or
on their own. This book is also very positive, reminding students that everyone has
differences that make them unique. It also gets students thinking about how they can
make these differences a positive thing for themself, not always harping on the negatives.
Therefore, this book is great for reminding everyone to love what makes them unique,
and celebrate all the things that make us who are.

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
• Author: Dusty Bowling
• Published: September 5th, 2017 by Sterling Children’s Books

Aven, a girl who was born without arms loves coming up with wild stories about how she
lost them, like wrestling an alligator or a wild fire in Tanzania. However, no matter the
story, everyone has grown to accept her for who she is. Unfortunately, Aven’s parents
decide to move to Arizona, meaning Aven now has to face new kids with new judgments
about her appearance. She struggles to fit in at first however, meets two friends who also
struggle with their own differences, such as being overweight or making barking noises
due to his turrets. These differences end up bringing the three together and they go on fun
adventures that involve solving a mystery. Aven also learns a lot about herself, and end
up accepting herself for who she is.

Rationale: This book is a longer story so students can choose to read it on their own or use it as a
guided read with parents. The book is also great for discussing the impact friends can have on
your feeling of self acceptance and them impact students can have on each other based on their
ability to make everyone feel accepted for who they are. Thus, the book reflects on self-discovery
and self-acceptance through learning to love everything that makes you exactly who you are!




























Hairspray (2007)
• Director: Adam Shankman
• Rating: PG
• Length: 1 hour and 57 minutes
• Comedy/Drama/Music

In the 1960s, Tracy Turnblad is obsessed with dancing and loves to make it known to the
people around her. When Tracy’s favourite dancing TV show, The Corny Collins Show,
has an opening for a new dancer she just has to audition. Although, she is rejected due to
her size and weight. Tracy is crushed from what the producers say but is determined to
find another way. Tracy decides to push boundaries with race and learns to love herself
for the way she is. She also influences her mother who also suffers from self-hate due to
her weight. Both Tracy and her mother learn to love their bodies for the way they were
born and show/express this love to others around them.

Rationale: This movie can be enjoyable for the family to watch together while also
learning about loving the body that you come in. It can be beneficial for both the child
and the parent to watch and see an example of self-love for the body that someone is born
in. Also, how this character embraces who she is.


Daily Positive Thought Activity

One of the main purposes for this self-acceptance themed backpack is to emphasize
positive self-talk. To do this, we would like to challenge you to a one week challenge to
think positively and reflect on how this affected how you think about yourself, as well as
how it affected your day to day life!

Your Task: For one week, as a group you will decide on a different positive theme or
idea in order to live each day by. The themes can be simple such as, “I have beautiful
hair!” Or it can be more complex and affect how you will look at the events that go on
during the day such as, “Today I will be happy and embrace what life throws at me!”
These are just two examples, but as a group or family you will need to decide daily what
is important to you, and live that day in dedication to remembering that positive idea. At
the end of each day for about 3 to 5 minutes, in a journal or on a piece of paper, each
member of the group will write and reflect about how their day was when thinking about
the theme for the day!

After writing, feel free to share your reflections if you feel comfortable. Below are a few
guiding questions that might help your reflections:

• Were you able to remember the theme throughout the day?

• Was it hard to follow the theme throughout the whole day?
• What was one moment where the daily positive thought made an impact on your
day? Explain this moment.
• Did keeping one positive idea in mind for a day, improve how you felt throughout
the day? If so, how?
• What theme would you like to live the next day by? Why?

 What I Like About Me Activity
It is important to be happy and satisfied with the body that you are born in and learn to
love the parts that you may not like. Just as it is important to love others, it is equally
important to love ourselves. Every individual has a defining part of them that they enjoy
or like the most about themselves.

I want you and the person or people who is going through this backpack with you to
determine what that piece is. Each individual must choose a part of their that they like the
most about themselves. It can be a small part, like your nose, big toe or belly button, or it
can be a larger part, like your arms, face or thigh. After you have chosen the favourite
part of yourself I want you to take a picture of it. To go along with this photo, the next
part of the activity is to write something about it. It can be in the form of a letter, a poem,
a song or any other piece of writing. In your piece of writing I would like you state why
you chose that part of you, what you like about it and what it represents to you.

Finding the pieces of ourselves that we love and expressing why we love is an important
part of loving ourselves. This love will then start to spread to your whole body and show
yourself how great it is to be unique.

 I Am Unique Free-Write Activity
There is a tremendous amount of power that can be found in acknowledging the things
that make us who we are—the things that make us unique. Therefore, in this activity we
will have you focus on the amazing things that make each of you, you! For this activity,
each person who is working through this backpack will need their journals—or a piece of
paper—and a pencil to spend some time writing about how great each of you are!

Your Task: Each member of your family is going to free write for roughly 3 to 5
minutes using the prompt “I am…..” What this means is that everyone will find a quiet
place to sit and create a list of things that are unique to you. For this, each line in your list
will begin with the words “I am…” and your task is to think of as many things that are
part of who you are! Are you tall? Are you brunette or blonde? Are you happy? On this
list you can put anything that is a physical feature, or an inherent part of your personality.
Anything that makes you unique!!

After the 3 to 5 minutes is finished, we encourage you all to share your lists with the
family or friends that you are completing this backpack with. In doing this, you can stand
up and embrace all the amazing things that make you who you are, and enjoy all the
confidence that comes along with that!!