STELLA'S BRAVE VOICE

A young girl must learn to advocate for herself in Bader’s picture book.

Stella and her fraternal twin sister, Paige, have lots in common. They also have complementary differences: Stella likes cake but not frosting, for example, while Paige likes frosting but not cake. But Stella gets aggravated when Paige speaks for her without giving her time to answer, or interrupts, or speaks over her. Stella wants to speak up, but she doesn’t know how. That evening, their mother gives Stella great advice, reminding her how Paige started to speak up for Stella when they were younger and Stella’s anxiety was more severe. Her advice empowers Stella to speak up for herself, but also to remember that Paige loves her and doesn’t want her to feel scared. Their mother helps Stella use her stuffed animals to model a conversation with Paige. The next day at school, Stella has a productive conversation with her sibling. Bader’s story presents anxious young readers with a great model for learning how to assert themselves in conversation. Soto’s full-color cartoon illustrations are cute but might have been improved with more realistic shading, although the well-drawn backgrounds ably contextualize the settings. The speaking characters are all depicted with pale skin; the story has several background characters of color, including the twins’ teacher.

Stella’s Brave Voice may empower other kids to find theirs, too.