Once Upon a You

K-Gr 4–Co-authored by an NFL legend, a parenting expert, and a self-proclaimed “Picturebook Doctor” this glossy pep talk trumpets the rewards of courage and self motivation. “You are the creator of the story of you,” shouts the unseen narrator—so shrug off those voices telling you what you can or cannot do, and write your own story: “The next chapter starts now… / And it’s going to be AMAZING!” In Menuau’s likewise emphatic illustrations a young competitive runner using a prosthetic leg and another child using a wheelchair join a broadly relatable multiracial array of actively posed children, surrounded by showers of stars and joyfully engaged in digging up dinosaurs or buried treasure, dancing or catching a football, diving into the sea, rocketing through space, belting out tunes into a microphone, and like triumphs. But in other, quieter, more richly emotional scenes a child simply envisions a future home and family, and tenderly comforts a crying toddler.