Lovely [Hardcover]

Big, small, curly, straight, loud, quiet, smooth, wrinkly. Lovely explores a world of differences that all add up to the same thing: we are all lovely!Love! Love! Love! No classical 'differences' representations, just straight up all kinds of people. A quick read, a fun palette, a cross section, a wonderful message. Well done, you!Big, small, curly, straight, loud, quiet, smooth, wrinkly. Lovely explores a world of differences that all add up to the same thing: we are all lovely!Out of the dozen books in my review pile, my youngest daughter returned to Jess Hongs book Lovely several times over. It might be Hongs cheerful and quirky cartoonish illustrations, showing a diversity of people not only with different skin tones but with a range of features: a sharp punk rock granny in a spiky jean jacket, for example, or a child with one blue and one brown eye. She liked the hands spelling out lovely in American Sign Language, each wearing a ring that also shows its corresponding written letter. Bodies with tattoos, freckles, a pair of braces, fluffy hair and straight, hairy legs in heels  all of these, accompanied by a reassuring label of lovely. I think that she also liked the books simple message: lovely is different, weird, and wonderful.Curriculum guide fits into compassion/character curriculumWhat is lovely? asks newcomer Hong at the outset of a book that celebrates seeing the beauty in everyone. She answers her own question by introducing a cavalcade of individuals young and old, with an emphasis on individual. Lovely is different, she writes as a girl with heterochromia looks at herself in the mirror. A young white woman in a goth ensemble represents black, while a brown-skinned woman with flowing white hair and a garland of flowers signifies white. Other opposite pairs include soft (a baby clutching a stuffed bear) and sharp (an elderly woman with lavender hair, a nose ring, and a spike-covered leather jacket), and spreads featuring armsl#K