Resilience Featured Book

Lili Macaroni
by Nicole Testa, illustrated by Annie Boulanger

 

From Amazon:

Lili Macaroni loves drawing butterflies, counting the stars, and being exactly who she is―Lili Macaroni. That is, until she starts kindergarten. There her classmates tell her that her hair is like a pumpkin, her eyes are squinty blueberries, and her laugh is like a parrot’s squawk. She has never felt such unhappiness before. It makes her want to erase herself and draw a brand new Lili. Then she reconsiders. Does she really want to erase her hair that’s just like Mom’s? Her eyes just like Grandma’s? Her Grandpa’s infectious laugh?

With her parents’ help, she creates a polka-dotted butterfly to wear at her collar, publicly announcing her own resilience and symbolically letting her sorrows be flown away. And when she explains the butterfly to her classmates, Lili discovers she has begun a powerful conversation, and that everyone has some trouble to be carried away on butterfly wings.

After reading the story to the class, process it with these or similar questions:

• Did you like the book?
• How do you think Lili feels on the cover?
• Do you have any traits that take after someone else in your family?
• How do you think Lili felt when the kids made fun of things she liked about herself?
• Do you think they meant to hurt her feelings?
• If they didn’t mean it, does it still hurt?
• Did you like her idea of the butterfly?
• Will you remember Lili’s hurt feelings the next time you hear somebody else make fun of someone and step in?

*In the back of the book are some additional activities to go along with it!

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