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All About Me Topic

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All About Me Topic Booklist

Celebrate individuality with our list of the best children’s books to support an ‘All About Me’ topic – a popular topic in classrooms as children get to know more about themselves and others. From the tips of their toes to the end of their nose, each child is truly unique – with different hobbies, feelings, hairstyles, eye colour, cultural heritages or body shapes. Our booklist is here to help children to understand that everyone is wonderfully unique and to positively celebrate the similarities and differences individuals encounter as they find their place within their communities. 

Books that celebrate individuality

Sophy Henn
Picturebook
Sometimes you are twinkly and floaty, sometimes you are soft and cuddly. Sometimes you are quiet and gentle, sometimes you are loud and clanky. Whatever you are, let's be proud of you being you! This bright and colourful picture book is a joyful celebration of the uniqueness of each individual. “The trick is not to worry about what you are not. Instead enjoy the things you are and all the brills you've got!”
Marvyn Harrison
 & Diane Ewen
Picturebook

Author Marvyn Harrison (founder of Dope Black Dads) has a mission… ‘each and every child is special, and it is important to tell them so every day.’ And so begins this empowering picture book. The story follows the characters from Monday through to Sunday, to help with learning the days of the week and family routines. Each day, the characters look at themselves in the mirror and say positive affirmations to their reflections. A different affirmation each day, with examples of how to be that person. The book also encourages children to talk about themselves and express their thoughts and feelings. The colourful pages burst to life thanks to the illustrations of Diane Ewen who is able to show how to be brave, smart, strong, kind, happy, loving and beautiful. This book is vibrant and energetic, and sure to engage our youngest children. Harrison describes his philosophy on affirmations as ‘just as regular exercise and a balanced diet set up strong patterns for good physical health, so can practising affirmations lead to better mental health’. You can read more about affirmations, Black Dope Dads and tips for reading with your child, at the back of the book.

Dr. Ranj Singh
 & Liam Darcy
Picturebook
An empowering story about seeing the best in others and yourself, from Dr Ranj, bestselling author and the nation's favourite doctor. Femi has SUPERPOWERS! But not the superhero kind - she can't really fly or turn invisible. Femi's dad says she has lots of superpowers on the inside that make her special. From kindness to creativity, bravery to patience - join Femi as she discovers all the special powers that her, her friends, and the incredible people around her, bring out in one another every day.
Shinsuke Yoshitake
Picturebook
This quirky picture book tells the story of a boy who wishes to make a robot clone of himself. Before he can, he needs to examine exactly what it is that makes him him. This thought-provoking book with detailed illustrations is lots of fun and provides a good stimulus for discussion or classwork about the uniqueness of each individual.
Fiona Lumbers
A beautifully illustrated, funny and thought-provoking book for building confidence and encouraging children to express their feelings - about anything and everything. This book will help enable a much broader conversation about individuality, fear and hopes. All author royalties are being donated to the NSPCC.

Smriti Halls
 & Ali Pye
This is a joyful celebration of all the pieces, places and people that make us who we are. It is a wonderful way to get children thinking about and learning about their own families, and also opening up discussions about all of the other pieces that come together to make us all unique: from our friends and food we eat, to activities we get up to and the places we go. Children will enjoy finding out more about themselves and their families, and thinking about other families and friends who are similar or different to their own.
Alexandra Strick
 & Steve Antony
Come on an amazing journey with 14 children as they grow from birth to 18 years old, learning new skills, exploring new worlds, standing up for their own and others' rights - and following their dreams. Created with real children, who sent messages of empathy, reassurance and hope, You Can! will inspire young people of all ages to be empowered and believe in themselves. This is a ground-breaking book from author and co-founder of Inclusive Minds, Alexandra Strick, with a visual narrative by international picture book star, Steve Antony.
Pippa Goodhart
 & Nick Sharratt
Picturebook
Get pupils choosing, imagining and expressing their own preferences with this massively appealing picture book full of choices. Each double-page spread is themed around a different choice to make and packed with all sorts of possibilities from the tame to the outright wacky; choose furniture for your ideal house, choose a pet (watch out for the dragon) and choose favourite food (the ice cream looks good but I'm not sure about the boar's head!).

Books about growing

Laura Ellen Anderson
This little boy is fed up with being so little. He wants to be as tall as his friends and his big brother. But when he loses his teddy bear up a tree, not even his new tall friend can get it back for him. Maybe with a little bit of help they can reach the bear together ... A fun and inspiring tale about learning to love who we are, no matter what size. A perfect picture book for little people who don't want to be so little.
Ruth Krauss
 & Helen Oxenbury
Picturebook
The Growing Story is an enchanting story about a boy who watched living things grow and change through the seasons. Just as he begins to think that he will be small forever, he learns to see the signs that he is growing and changing too.
Pat Hutchins
Picturebook
It's not easy being the smallest in the family, like Titch. But Titch soon discovers that even something as tiny as a little seed has the potential to grow into a plant that is very big indeed. Titch is a story for anyone who knows what it is like to feel small.
Justin Roberts
 & Christian Robinson
Picturebook
An inspiring and empowering rhyming story that's a joy to read aloud, all about the power of children to change the world. Sally McBrass is the smallest girl in the youngest class – but Sally knows you don't have to be big to be strong. From kites stuck up trees to howling dogs to stray cats in the car park, little Sally notices things that others don't, and when she sees people being mean at school, she is brave enough to speak up. The Smallest Girl in the Class by Justin Roberts and Christian Robinson is a moving and gorgeously illustrated story about bravery and changing the world for the better. The perfect book to build empathy and start discussions about kindness with young children.

Books about human bodies, hair and bones

Kim Norman
 & Bob Kolar
Picturebook
A pirate skeleton seeks to put its bones back together in this rhyming first book of anatomy! A stormy night at sea has uncovered some long-buried secrets and surprises. Is that the mast of a shipwreck? A faded pirate hat? And what's that hiding in the sand? A mandible and a clavicle, phalanges and femurs, a tibia and a fibula - could there be a complete set of bones scattered across the ocean floor? And who might they belong to? A jaunty rhyme takes readers on an underwater scavenger hunt as a comical skeleton tries to put itself back together piece by piece. Make no bones about it - this rollicking read-aloud will have young ones learning anatomy without even realising.
Paul Mason
 & Dave Smith
Non-fiction
In Hair-raising Human Body Facts, you'll learn about some of the most incredible things going on inside you right now! Giggle and gasp as you read about and see some truly astonishing (and sometimes silly) parts of the human body, such as your super-cool cornea, which gets its oxygen from the air and has no blood at all flowing to it, or your secretly clever nostrils, which take turns breathing - that's some amazing teamwork!
Matthew Cherry
 & Vashti Harrison
Picturebook
Zuri loves her beautiful hair. Even though it has a mind of its own, it lets her feel like a superhero. Mum usually styles Zuri's hair, but one day Mum is away and Daddy has to step in and create a wonderful hairstyle for her - with plenty of help from Zuri. This is a lovely story showcasing a tender father-daughter relationship and encouraging young readers to love the hair they have just as much as Zuri does.
Idan Ben-Barak & Julian Frost
Picturebook
Quog and Oort are on their way to Kevin's birthday party. Unfortunately, their spaceship has crashed. Pick up this book to lend them a hand! An interstellar exploration of hands and what's inside them, from the award-winning creators of the internationally successful Do Not Lick This Book.

Books about different types of people

Helen Hancocks
Non-fiction
Do you know why a chef's hat has 100 pleats? Or how many ways there are to tie a tie? Packed full of whacky facts and stunning clothes from designers and cultures around the world, as well as glorious illustrations featuring objects from the V&A, this book is a must-have for anyone who has ever wondered why we wear the clothes we do.  
Medeia Cohan-Petrolino
 & Sarah Walsh
Non-fiction
This book is a beautifully illustrated introduction to the shared custom of head covering. Using accurate terminology and brightly coloured imagery, Hats of Faith helps educate and prepare young children for our culturally diverse modern world. Encouraging an early and open dialogue between parents and children.
Nicola Edwards
 & Andrea Stegmaier
Non-fiction
Discover what daily life is like for children across the world as we explore everything from food to family, and learn how to greet new friends in lots of different languages. See where it's polite to slurp your food and bad manners to give the thumbs up, and find out where you might travel to school by cable car or sleep on an oven bed at night! A fascinating look at the lives of children across the globe.
Alexandra Penfold
 & Suzanne Kaufman
Picturebook
The #1 New York Times bestselling picture book, celebrating diversity and inclusivity. No matter how you start your day, What you wear when you play, Or if you come from far away, All are welcome here. Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcome. A school where children in patkas, hijabs, baseball caps and yarmulkes play side by side. A school where students grow and learn from each other's traditions. A school where diversity is a strength. Warm and inspiring, All Are Welcome lets young children know that no matter what, they have a place, they have a space, and they are welcome in their school. Engaging lyrical text and bright, accessible illustrations make this book a must for every child's bookshelf, classroom and library.
Sophy Henn

All Kind of Families, written and illustrated by Sophy Henn, is a wonderful book to use across various opportunities in the primary classroom. It is an excellent resource to promote discussion and understanding of family diversity in humans and animals. By making links to animals, children gain a wider experience of different families, all underpinned by the theme of love. The book explores and promotes families with different parents, varying numbers of siblings and family sizes, roles of other individuals and adoption. Each is done sensitively to help children understand and embrace the naturally different shapes of families. The book would be most suitable for KS1 or lower KS2 but could be adapted for any age. Each theme is linked to a different animal and the final pages of the books give more information about each of those animals.


Jonathan Litton
 & L'Atelier Cartographik
Non-fiction

How do you say hello? How many other ways can you think of? This lift-the-flap book is a celebration of languages and cultures, showing people from different countries saying ‘hello’ in their native language. Find out what ‘hello’ in different languages looks and sounds like in this visually appealing non-fiction text.

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