Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell

Perfect for: 
Ages: 4-6
Occasion: First day at school, new school, self-confidence

Here we are, on the edge of another school year. I know this makes me officially old to say this, but is time going really fast this summer? It feels like we were just getting excited for Christmas and now the back to school sales are in full swing and the hot cross buns are on the shelves.

The Bea is still a few years off her first day at big school but this year quite a few of my friends have little ones starting in kindy/prep. It's an exciting, emotional and daunting time (please, please let them have friends. please please let them have fun. please please don't let them lose the school jumper that cost $85.).

Thinking ahead, the two biggest wishes I have for the Bea at school is that she'll embrace who she is, with all of her weirdnesses and quirks, and find a solid little group of friends who love her and will be by her side no matter what. I figure the reading and writing and maths will all come in time but it's the love - of herself and her tribe - that really matters.

[Life mantra, via Hannah Reynolds]

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon is the sweetest book about exactly those things. Embracing who you are, doing your best and realising that the quirks you're teased about are actually the best parts about you.

Let me introduce quirky Molly Lou Melon. She is the shortest girl in the first grade, has buck teeth so enormous that she can stack pennies on them and a voice like a bullfrog being squeezed by a boa constrictor. But she doesn't mind. Her Grandma told her to walk tall and the world will look up to you. Smile big and the world will smile right along with you. Sing out strong and the world will cry tears of joy.

So she does.

[Sometimes the bea pulls that face when I sing too...via kinderbooks]

One day, Molly Lou Melon changes schools and finds herself mercilessly bullied by a rotten kid called Ronald Durkin. Despite his teasing (and frankly, with a name like Ronald Durkin, he should pipe down), Molly Lou holds her head high and embraces all of her quirks. All the other children look up to her for the way she tries her best and finally, after feeling very foolish again and again, Ronald Durkin realises what a durkin he's been.

This is the cutest little story - I love sweet-looking, brave little Molly and the way that nothing gets her down. Her friends love her because she's her and she succeeds not by trying to fit in or win the bully over, but by being exactly who she is and embracing the things that others would have her believe are faults.

Perfect for the quirky Molly's in your life who march to their own beat - and probably not a bad one for the Ronald Durkins too.

the book and the bea x