Children’s Book Review: What If Everybody Thought That? By Ellen Javernick

WHAT IF EVERYBODY THOUGHT THAT?

By: Ellen Javernick

Illustrated by: Colleen Madden

Published: August 27, 2019

Publisher: Two Lions

Non-Fiction

There are all kinds of different abilities in school and it’s easy for kids to make assumptions about the kids with those abilities. Javernick takes all kinds of situations and proves our prejudices wrong and offers us a different view.

Can the shortest boy in the school be a basketball player? Can a kid who can’t spell correctly really be smart enough for robotics? These situations and more are addressed on the pages of this book. The illustrations along with speech bubbles show what kids likely think when they come across someone who is different from them. Then the next page proves their assumption wrong.

I appreciated that the author used a kid who stutters can still be a talented performer as both our boys stutter and still performed in musicals and choir. We also have a girl with alopecia at our school and the book addresses kids’ concerns related to this disease.

I think Javernick was very realistic in what a child says and thinks as well as even parents and teachers. I see a lot of these situations very often at school and am always happy to see when those judgments are proved wrong.

I think this book would be great for any elementary classrooms to start the school year off with. This book offers a way to start a conversation about people who are different from us and changing our views on the restrictions we may place on them.

Ellen Javernick is the author of more than twenty books for children, including the Children’s Choice Book Award finalist The Birthday Pet, illustrated by Kevin O’Malley, and the bestselling picture book What If Everybody Did That?, illustrated by Colleen Madden. She has been an elementary school teacher for more than twenty years and currently teaches second grade. She lives in Loveland, Colorado.

Colleen Madden is the illustrator of many children’s books, including the picture-book adaptation of All I Want for Christmas Is You, by Mariah Carey, and the bestselling picture books What If Everybody Did That? andWhat If Everybody Said That?, both written by Ellen Javernick. She recently published Monkey Walk, her debut as both author and illustrator. She lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and two sons. To see more of her work, visit her website, HERE.

To purchase a copy of WHAT IF EVERYBODY THOUGHT THAT?, click the photo below:

Check out my review of WHAT IF EVERYBODY SAID THAT?

To see books great for starting off the school year, click HERE.

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I will be linking up this review on Booking Mama’s regular Saturday feature, Kid Konnection. This is a place for bloggers to share posts related to children’s and YA books. You will find spotlights, reviews, and sometimes even giveaways by clicking HERE, every Saturday.

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Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to purchase this book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase.