A Joyous Celebration of Difference: Read Our Review of I Am Lupe by Sela Ahosivi-Atiola, Illustrated by Yani Agustina

We are all different and no one is the same. There is no one else in the world like you.

When a little girl with brown skin and curly hair notices she is different from her classmates, she asks her mother what she is. Her mother’s answer is a celebration of all the wonderful differences that make each of us who we are.

Lupe is a daughter. She is a big sister. She is a friend. She is smart. She is fearless. She is funny. She is beautiful. She is enough.

I Am Lupe is a warm-hearted story that inspires big and little readers to embrace the things that make them who they are.

Sela Ahosivi-Atiola is a Tongan Australian writer, early childhood educator and mother, based in Sydney. She’s also a member of Sweatshop, the fantastic Western Sydney-based literacy movement that empowers diverse writers to hone and disseminate their stories, which we’re huge fans of here at Better Reading! With this combination of experience and credentials, it’s no wonder Ahosivi-Atiola has penned such an authentic, rich and perfectly pitched story for young readers.

Yani Augustina’s beautiful illustrations are expressive, energetic and full of character. They make the perfect accompaniment to Ahosivi-Atiola’s evocative prose, and guarantee that this moving picture book will be one that kids reach for again and again.

I Am Lupe is a warm, gentle, reassuring picture book with a quiet resonance that’s bound to shift how its readers perceive themselves and others. For readers who see themselves in Lupe – who feel or are made to feel different from their peers for whatever reason – this book has a beautiful and vital message of self-acceptance and self-belief.

The book also holds an important lesson for young readers who perceive themselves as being the ‘norm’, or part of the majority. For these readers, I Am Lupe is a powerful lesson in understanding, respecting and celebrating the differences that make every person unique and special.

I Am Lupe belongs on every classroom bookshelf, and it would also make a gorgeous and conversation-provoking bedtime read for kids everywhere, aged 3+.

Buy a copy of I Am Lupe here.