YOU MIGHT BE SPECIAL!

A humorous quiz that helps readers gauge just how special they really are.

Two bold questions set the stage: “Do you ever feel like you’re different from everyone else?” Does it sometimes seem like there’s no one quite like you?” If so…“You might be SPECIAL!” The sly narrator invites readers to take a quiz and find out. At first, the questions are fairly unremarkable (“Are you strong? Are you brave?”), but things quickly take an absurdist turn: “Can you cook hot dogs with your breath?” Wait, what? No? Then you certainly aren’t a…dragon! Children will delight in the abrupt change of events and will have fun guessing each mythical creature hinted before the page-turn reveals. There are, of course, positive traits that fairies, werewolves, mermaids, and more possess, and the youngster in this story—a tot with olive skin, dark hair, a gap-toothed grin, round, red spectacles, and a headband with two star-topped antennae—shares many of them. But the narrator is stumped. “What ARE you? What in the WORLD could you be???” (Hint: It’s a nod toward individuality.) Cutler’s energetic illustrations enhance the zany, playful tone depicting the child engaging with a diverse cast of friends and classmates. Each set of questions and answers occupies two spreads, the first focusing on the child in action and the second introducing the fanciful creature guessed at. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Good fun for those shouty storytime crowds.