Beautiful by Stacy McAnulty illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff

I like to think about the processes between the words of an author and the creativity of an illustrator.  The words in this book say one thing and the pictures show something quite different - making this a powerful story about image, stereotypes, perception, individuality and girl power.

Here is some of the text:

Beautiful girls ...
... have the perfect look.
Beautiful girls move gracefully,
And light up every room.
Beautiful girls know all about makeup,
And have a smart style.

Let's look at this last line.  On this page you will see one girl exploring nature. She has dirt on her face and knees and is keenly observing and recording bugs. Another girl is working on an engineering project. She is welding a circuit board. The final pair of girls are surrounded by test tubes and chemicals. Yes, they are all very smart!

Here are some other books illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff. Stacy McAnulty explains the importance of her book and provides links for further discussion.

With a text that sounds like it could have been directly lifted from a charm school handbook, McAnulty and Lew-Vriethoff upend the norm. Each phrase is paired with illustrations that show an alternative meaning.  Kirkus