Only You Can Be You

Detail from Only You Can Be You by Nathan and Sally Clarkson, ill. by Tim Warnes (Tommy Nelson 2019) / © Tim Warnes 2019

 

“Identify and honour the you that God made.”

— Stephen Roach

In the early summer of 2018, I began a period of self reflection.  

Part of the process (inspired by Andy J Pizza’s Creative Pep Talk podcast) was asking myself the question: What Makes Me Unique?  I began writing an extensive (though not exhaustive), list of all the things about me that, when put together, make a unique whole. My personality traits; likes and dislikes; things that move me to tears or laughter; things that make my heart sing. From time to time over the next days and weeks, I’d add to the list.

Here’s the first page of my notes:

 

© Tim Warnes 2018

Bird knowledge

Passion for story

Banjo!

My faith

Clowning

Puppets / Muppets

Comic strips

Music moves me: I like jazz, melancholic folky stuff, songs that tell a story...

As the list grew, my passion for story showed up in other areas: picture books, wanting to inspire kids to read; ability to write, reading aloud, playing with my voice. (It’s partly due to this realisation of the value I place on storytelling, and identifying myself as a storyteller, that I began this blog, My Life in Books.)

This introspection was fuelled by stuff going on in my personal life at the time. I had also just begun working on the illustrations for a text by Nathan and Sally Clarkson. At the time it was called, Perfectly Different. It has just been published as Only You Can Be You -What Makes You Different Makes You Great! It couldn’t have come at a better time for me - recognising who I am and being comfortable with who God made me.

 In his letter to the church in Galatia, the apostle Paul urges the Christians there not to ‘compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse.’

I love the way Paul’s conclusion is translated in the Message:

 

Each of us is an original.

- Galatians 5: 26 

 

There’s a lot of talk in the media at the moment about helping teenagers and young children deal with identity issues. The current focus is on gender identity, but zoom right out, and you’ll see - identity issues affect us all: 

Am I strong enough? Brave enough? Rich enough? Smart enough? 

Will I be laughed at? Ridiculed? Shunned or accepted?

Those of us with children in their care are in a unique position to help them feel good about themselves. Not only to understand what makes them tick, but also to show them that, it’s okay to be different, and to teach them to have empathy for others. And picture books - and storytime - provide the magic ingredient!

Dr Caroline Leaf teaches that difference is not a value judgement:

 

[W] e’ve got to help our kids understand that it’s okay to be different; that there’s something you can do that no one else can do. Tell them that often. Help them to understand and accept that people don’t have to be like you. People think differently, have different belief systems. We need to teach our children to be much more tolerant of others. A lot of bullying happens when people don’t understand how someone else operates or functions or that they’re so different to them that they start to bully them. Everyone is different; that it’s impossible for people to be the same. When we don’t understand that differences are actually okay, ...then that’s where bullying will come from. The majority of bullying comes from people not understanding that someone else is different, so they bully them… [B]y encouraging children that differences are okay and by us listening and tolerating our own children, we then teach children to accept others… and [their] differences.

- Cleaning Up the Mental Mess with Dr Caroline Leaf

 I am so proud of my work on Only You Can Be You, for several reasons: 

Not known for depicting humans, it hurled me way outside my comfort zone (Only You Can Be You contains 85 kids!);

It also stretched me by taking my art in a slightly different direction. For this project, I used a lot of collage. (I had dabbled with it here and there in my previous book, The Big Book Adventure, and I really liked the results.) Not new-fangled digital collage - I’m talking old school, cut-and-paste-paper-scissors-and-glue collage. I dare say creating the style digitally would have been quicker - but only if I had the software skills. (I don’t!). I also used a lot of marker pens.

Inspired by Andy J Pizza, I decided to include something that I’d identified as important to me, and filled my illustrations with birds (52 in all);

Most importantly, Only You Can Be You! celebrates diversity - both through the Clarkson’s text, and my art. 

I love this photo of the authors, Nathan with his mother, Sally.

 

Authors Nathan and Sally Clarkson. Courtesy of Nathan Clarkson / @nathanjclarkson

 

Nathan writes:

 

… [F]rom this picture it’s clear to see I’m STILL the different kid. Which is why I wrote this book. This book was written to my younger self. This book was written to the kid who doesn’t fit in. This book was written to the kid who feels like they’re always too much. This book was written to the out-of-the-box kids to help them know from a young age, the uniqueness God has created you and others with is GOOD! “What makes you different makes you great!”

- Nathan Clarkson on Instagram

 

Detail from Only You Can Be You by Nathan and Sally Clarkson, ill. by Tim Warnes (Tommy Nelson 2019) / © Tim Warnes 2019

 I think this book has come at just the right time. It seems to have hit the zeitgeist in children’s books.

As I’ve written before, kids of all colour must get to see themselves represented in the books they read, so I’m pleased I had the opportunity to depict so many different skin tones in one project. If you look very closely, you’ll even find a kid with a hearing aid. There’s also a boy in a wheelchair, telling jokes and making his friends laugh! 

It’s more than just necessary that our children understand that not everyone is the same as them. It’s crucial. So a book like this, with its diverse cast of characters and the underlying message of, What makes you different makes you great, is a gift.

The United States of America has a president who made undeniably racist comments and fails to disavow himself from those comments (and the actions of racist groups). Here in the UK, a similar tone is reflected in government from the top-down, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson refusing to apologise for earlier comments describing Muslim women wearing niqaabs as ‘letter boxes’ and ‘bank robbers’.

We have a problem, and we have the solution.

Our children.

Because amongst them are the future presidents and heads of states, employers, judges, teachers, law makers… So let’s shoulder the responsibility and teach them that it’s okay to be different.

  #1 New Release in Amazon’s Special Needs Books  























Amazon review s:

‘Colorfully and creatively illustrated’

‘As the mom of three two of which are special needs makes me love this message even more.’

‘be inspired by the diversity of children and animals throughout the book’

‘The message … is so needed in this divided world.’

BUY NOW!
 Good to Read

Other picture books that celebrate the individual

So Much by Trish Cooke, ill. by Helen Oxenbury (Walker Books 1994)

Olivia by Ian Falconer (Atheneum Books 2000)

Little Nelly’s Big Book by Pippa Goodheart, ill. by Andy Rowland (Bloomsbury 2012)

Lavender by Posy Simmonds (Red Fox 2003)

 

Development work for Only You Can Be You © Tim Warnes 2018

 SourcesOnly You Can Be You - What Makes You Different Makes You Great! by Nathan and Sally Clarkson, ill. by Tim Warnes (Tommy Nelson 2019)Stephen Roach, speaking at Created to Worship, Shaftesbury 2018Creative Pep TalkSCRIPTURE quoted FROM THE MESSAGE REMIX TRANSLATED BY EUGENE H. PETERSON (NAV PRESS PUBLISHING 2003)Nathan Clarkson on InstagramCleaning Up the Mental Mess with Dr Caroline Leaf - Podcast episode #64: how to help teenagers and young children deal with identity issuesHere Are 13 Examples Of Donald Trump Being Racist by Lydia O'Connor, Daniel Marans (HuffPost US, 29 February 2016)