This is a great read for children and I really hope it does help bring more empathy to the world. Onjali is a very likeable writer and her enthusiasm jumps off the page. She’s not afraid to share her passion for reading which is wonderful. 

I just wish it was pitched at more secondary level. That would have made it perfect.

Onjali Q Rauf, the gentlest, most loving activist on earth right now — has moved just a little from her thought-provoking fiction writing to now address her young readers directly on “hope, change and making a difference.”

I love the way she chats directly to the young reader, acknowledging that he or she is likely to have had worries too big for them to hold.

Onjali (pronounced On-jelly) then proceeds to admit that she worries a lot, but if every one person turns their worries into action, then “1+1+1 x infinity” and they will all make endless changes.

“…kindness is always capable of creating huge, earth-shifting changes. And whoah! When that superpower is released into the world along with your unique ways of showing it…SPLASH! BOOM! CRACK! SHUDDER! 

The earth’s plates (and knives and forks) will shift and alter and move for ever.”

I love love love Onjali’s Five Golden Rules to tackle this book, followed by a fun, accessible “toolkit” to fill the Charlie Bucket list, sharpen your X-ray vision to see beyond labels, be curious like Tintin and find your own Samwise Gamgee.

Onjali does not gloss over the real issues of poverty, discrimination and injustice, for after all, the call to action is for us to understand and do something. 

This books empowers the young reader, because no one is too small to make a change. Onjali continues to make tough, real world issues accessible in this conversation. 

Highly, highly recommend!

📚: @definitelybookskids