Review Detail

Today Is For You

Kids Fiction 177

Exuberant Motivation

May 12, 2024

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Every new day is a new opportunity to have a fabulous experience, and Today is For You! celebrates this with upbeat, boisterous proclamations of this. On every page, there's a new pronouncement of how things will be glorious. There are lots of questions about what the reader will do, whom they will meet, and the different experiences they will have, followed by the recommendation to celebrate all of these things. The refrain "When is today? Exactly now" is repeated frequently, often in all capital letters. As the day progresses, the excitement is put on simmer, as everyone quiets down and climbs into bed to rest up before celebrating another frenetic day tomorrow.

Good Points

This has more energy than any picture book I've seen lately. The text bounds across the pages and is woven into the backgrounds and color coordinated with them. This reminded me of the Geronimo Stilton books a bit, with the use of different colors for different letters, and a huge variety of sizes and types of fonts.

The verse is uneven at parts, and the word "coz" (for because) is used several times, but that just adds to the general pell mell feeling of urgency that the book embraces.

If you're looking to motivate a young reader to grasp the day with both hands and give it a good shake, this is the book. It's been compared to Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go because of the general air of optimism and adventure, and definitely has the same feel as Martin's The Wonderful Things You Will Be, Gutierrez and Noakes' Dare to Dream Big, Evans and Purnomo's And Off You Go to Change the World, and Tillman's You're Here For a Reason.