ReaditDaddy's Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 3rd July 2020: "I Am Not A Label" by Cerrie Burnell and Lauren Baldo (Wide Eyed Editions)

We know and love Cerrie Burnell for her exquisite and beautiful middle grade writing, but did you know that she's also an accomplished biographer? 

"I am Not a Label" by Cerrie Burnell and Lauren Baldo could have easily been mistaken as "just another influential figures" book. We've seen dozens over the last few years, either collectively describing influential and inspirational people from the past and present, or focusing on the life story of individuals. 

However "I Am Not a Label" chooses its subjects from a diverse pool of amazingly intelligent, talented and (the important bit for kids) instantly identifiable characters that kids may already look up to. 

Deep thinkers rub shoulders with creative artists, sports superstars and those who have pushed themselves beyond their limits to achieve amazing things. Each mini-biography is sensitively and beautifully written to give kids a great place to start researching about these amazing people, perhaps including them in classroom projects or other activities both in and out of school (C found the book particularly useful for some of the Guide badges she's working on at the moment). 

As you'd expect from Wide Eyed, the presentation of the book is brilliant too - and Lauren's illustrations sweep through each page spread, filled with colour and creativity. 

Cerrie herself is a brilliant choice to head up this book, being worthy of inclusion in here herself. This is fantastic and inspirational stuff, and particularly relevant to a lot of the causes and movements in the world that kids are becoming a huge part of.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A brilliantly written and beautifully illustrated collection of biographies of some truly amazing people who offer inspirational life stories and their own examples of how we can overcome even the most difficult obstacles in life if we put our minds and bodies to it.