You’re Perfect the Way You Are

In You’re Perfect the Way You Are, readers follow a little girl through her day, from breakfast to bed time, as she repeatedly expresses her concerns about various parts of her body and, in turn, is reassured by members of her family that she is, as the title says, perfect the way she is. In addition to the worries the girl has expressed in the above excerpts, she questions the number of freckles she has (too many?), her nose (too big?), her size (too big?), her hands (too small?), her face (too wide?), her feet (too big?) and her knees (too bony?). As well as the reassurances she receives from her parents, the girl’s older brother, her grandparents and an uncle chime in as well, all confirming that she is perfect the way she is. In the penultimate pair of pages, the little girl overhears her father say, “I’ve gained weight. I’m too fat!”, to which she responds, “Not, you’re not! You’re perfect the way you are!” The final pages find the little girl being tucked into bed by her mother who agrees with her daughter’s comment regarding the father’s weight before saying,“Goodnight my perfect angel”.

Most of us, whether adults or children, likely do have concerns regarding what we perceive to be imperfections in some aspect of our bodies. Consequently, the theme of Nelson’s You’re Perfect the Way You Are is one with which many children can identify, and the adults’ and sibling’s affirming response to the girl’s self-doubts is the correct one. However, the story, itself, is flat, lacks tension, and does not build to any kind of climax.

Dolotovskaia’s cartoon-like illustrations also lack life. The bodies look stiff and awkward, and the characters’ faces do not show emotion. The illustrator needed to pay more attention to continuity. The opening page finds the girl, clad in a green-shirt and blue pants, eating a bowl of breakfast cereal at the table. Four pages later, she’s carrying her breakfast bowl to the kitchen sink, but now she’s wearing a pink dress. A later spread finds the family seated at the lunch/supper table. Readers will recognize the girl’s sibling, her parents and grandparents, all having been previously introduced in the story, but they will also see an additional adult male at the table. Readers will have to turn the page to discover that he is the girl’s uncle.

Libraries can pass on this title.