You are Revolutionary!

By Cindy Wang Brandt, illustrated by Lynnor Bontigao (Minneapolis: Beaming Books, 2021, 32 pp., $17.99, hard cover)

This is a cute book about how diverse children grow up and learn to help others, raise their voices, and take a stand. The illustrations are endearing. I enjoyed reading this book.

The story starts with the birth of an Asian girl. “Before you could crawl, before your first word, you giggled, you cried, you declared, I WILL BE HEARD!”

As the baby grows up, she goes to school and becomes an active child with many friends. “When you try to ask questions, speak up about what’s unfair, people tell you to hush.” But the little girl wants to “make change when you see things aren’t right.”

She decides to be “part of a revolution.” She decides to be a “dreamer who imagines what others can’t see.” She decides to become active in school.

“If you experience hardship and struggle first hand, you can share your story.”

“If you like making jokes about what’s both funny and true, you can spread joy and humor.”

“If you excel at writing words as mighty as a sword, you can share a message in ways that can’t be ignored.” Write stories in class.

“If you’re a kid who can sing, play an instrument, or make art, with your skill and creativity, you can change people’s hearts.” There are great pictures of children writing on the sidewalk.

(“Homes for all!”).

If you’re active in sports, “you can knock on doors and lift signs up in the air. You can be fierce and feisty, or you can be soft and tender. We need both defenders and menders.”

The children in the neighborhood “rise up, march to create a better world.” Here’s their motto: “You’ll work hard and also have fun.” “Every kid is a revolutionary.”

Cindy Wang Brandt is the author of this book, “You Are Revolutionary.” She has also written “Parenting Forward: How to Raise Children with Justice, Mercy, and Kindness.” She lives in Taiwan.

Lynnor Bontigao is the exceptional illustrator of this book. She grew up in the Philippines and now lives in New Jersey.