Sometimes kids are bigger (or thinner or shorter or taller)

than other kids at school.

But don’t they still all belong?

Here’s a story about a big girl whose hurt feelings started a conversation…

about being different.

What people are saying about it:

I am a child psychologist working with some of the most vulnerable children in our community in the Greater Boston Area, children from ages 4-12 who have been hospitalized due to unsafe behavior. I run groups for children where we discuss emotion identification and modulation, healthy social skills and mindfulness activities. I recently was introduced to Bonnie Morris’ excellent book Big and Strong I Belong!, and have found that the kids really resonate with the feelings and situations depicted in the book. It’s a wonderfully direct story about a difficult to open up subject, beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written with simple, rhyming language. I have used it very effectively to open up discussions about bullying and kindness amongst the children on my inpatient unit. Three cheers!

Christopher J. Pagano, Ph.D. Director of Child & Adolescent Inpatient Psychological Testing, PsychologyTraining & Child/Adolescent Inpatient Groups, Cambridge Health Alliance, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance