My Special Best Words

by John Steptoe

A three-year-old records her favorite conversations with her father, baby sitter, and young brother

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

John Steptoe was an award-winning author and illustrator of children's books from New York City. He began working on his first children's book, Stevie, while still a teenager and achieved great success during his tragically short career, encouraging the advancement of African American culture by producing work about the African American experience that children could appreciate. Recipient of two Coretta Scott King Awards and two Caldecott Honors, Steptoe was posthumously honored by the creation of the John Steptoe New Talent Award, an award designated annually by the Coretta Scott King Award Task Force. Steptoe's best known work is Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, for which he won his second Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award.

Reviews

[Neda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting picturebook. I was thinking about its year of publication and am amazed! Can you imagine it goes back to 1974 and I should say even nowadays such a thing is IMPOSSIBLE in my country.

So we have this family; a father and two children: a girl of 3 (who is the narrator) and a boy of 1 with apparently no mother.
The relationship between them is just great! This idea that the girl named Bweela is guiding and helping her little brother is amazing.
Another point about this book is its open illustration of sexuality. I loved this idea that they are taking this idea of sexuality so naturally and not a taboo (as in my country and am sure in lots of other countries). In my idea, this is another kind of empowerment which is really beneficial for children in case they are taught to take it in an easy and natural way.

[Jesse McMorris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a story about a loving father and his two children told from the point of view of a little girl named Bweela. Throughout the book Bweela describes the people in her life’s “best special word” meaning the phrases they say often to her. In the illustrations a lot of the times the characters are portrayed in different colors such as purple, red, blue, or green. The pictures resemble the look of oil pastels and in almost every picture it shows the importance of family through the interaction of Bweela and her little brother Javaka. A teachable moment I saw in this moment was when the father told the children to come sit at the table for dinner because he had the table all set and ready for them. He made them a home-cooked meal and told them that he did it all because he loved them. I think that this shows that cooking dinner and setting the table doesn’t have to always be done by a woman and it shows that a single father is capable of taking care of his family.