Cute illustrations and cute story. ( )

4.5 stars ( )

I loved the book Made By Raffi. It's a book about finding yourself, being proud of yourself, and never backing down from who you are. The first reason I liked this book was the characters are well developed. The main character Raffi is described by the character explicitly which helps the reader understand what is going to happen further along in the story. For example on page 3 the author says "So at playtime Raffi often liked to sit by himself, or find a teacher to stand with, just for a little peace and quiet." Secondly, the plot is cute, and is well organized. Raffi learns to knit from his teacher and he goes on to knitting things all the time, and kids make fun of him until he makes a cool cape for a play in class. Its well organized, because you can see the transition from him learning, people making fun of hm, him not backing down, then people accepting him and loving him for who he is. Finally, the book pushes readers to broaden their perspective of the male gender. Raffi likes to knit which is considered girly, but the books shows everyone accepting him and thinking its cool that he's different. I think this would be a great book to have in the classroom, because it challenges gender norms. ( )

A cheerful, effective story about individuality and acceptance. ( )