Rosada, Shaun

English

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  Second Reaction: Bodies are Cool   Tyler Feder. Bodies are Cool. Illustrated by Tyler Feder. New York, NY: Rocky Pond Books, 2021. Print.  Shaun Rosada   When it comes to first reactions, I have to say that I was left wide eyed and mouth opened after reading this book. I was shocked at the progressive and bold content that was set on every page. This book has a lot to unpack, but three stellar things stood out to me are the rhythm of the words, illustrations, and the overall message of the book. To start things off, I personally felt that there was a rhythm in the words as I was reading them. Throughout the whole book, the text kept a flowy pattern and the commas between certain words made the reader read these in a certain way. Having the talked about feature listed in every line helped bring on this “lyrical” flow. I also noticed that the first three lines were always about a different feature on each page, but the fourth line always had the same message. I felt like I was singing a song, or maybe even saying a mantra (bodies ARE cool!).  As a reader, all of these characteristics kept me engaged and left me wanting to keep turning the page to see what the next topic was. Another thing that also made an impact, was that the author did a good job of   using the exclamation point at the end of every page. Doing so really emphasized that intended message while adding to the sing-songy rhythm. The second stellar characteristic that stood out to me in this book were the illustrations. You can tell there was a lot of thought when it came to the creation of the subjects to match the words. People with all sorts of bodies, skin, and hair types were present, giving young readers the chance to see that there is not just one “type” of body that one can have. I love how the illustrator wasn’t deterred when including people with different characteristics. Throughout the book, I saw people with different skin textures and also people who maybe had different body hair than the societal norm. I applaud at how bold they were. Another thing that I have to say in regards to the illustration is that not only were they present, but they were all depicted as being friendly and accepting of one another which supports the theme and message of this book. The colors that were chosen on every page were friendly and inviting. The colors weren’t too bright so it took away from the focus of the book. Finally, the last thing that I wanted to highlight from my experience, the overall message. I believe that we as a society need more content such as this in our schools. I think there is a lot of talk within our school system and general society about acceptance and diversity, but there really isn’t as much content on it as there should be. There are so many different body types out there, yet the media continues to have a centralized “image” which can make people become insecure of their own features, or unconsciously (possibly consciously as well) judge others for theirs. This book could help one become more mindful that everyone is beautiful no matter what they look like, and that not everyone is made the same. This book would be good to implement in the schools to tie along to having a culturally inclusive classroom. In this book, I witnessed a beautiful message that was well supported by powerful illustrations and friendly text. This was a delightful read, one that can help bring people closer together and also become more accepting of themselves and others.  About the Author   Shaun Rosada is a student in the teacher preparation program at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.   

Second Reaction: Bodies are Cool

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1752&context=fosr

Second Reaction: Bodies are Cool

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