Description

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Young people share valuable advice—words they wish they had heard growing up—to inspire, reassure, encourage, and say You’re enough, just as you are.

You can . . . be brave, challenge yourself, overcome your fears, be kind, be YOU! Come on an amazing journey with fourteen young people as they grow from birth to eighteen, learning new skills, exploring new worlds, standing up for their own and others’ rights, and following their dreams. Created in consultation with real young adults, Alexandra Strick’s groundbreaking narrative will inspire and empower young people of all ages and abilities to believe in themselves and follow their own path, especially during tough times. Complemented by Steve Antony’s exuberant and inclusive artwork, which introduces fourteen comparable fictional characters and tracks their growth page by page, You Can! is a timely and meaningful gift for graduates or any reader marking significant milestones.

About the Author

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Alexandra Strick is a writer and freelance consultant and a cofounder of Inclusive Minds, a collective for people who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality, and accessibility in children’s literature. This is her first book with Candlewick Press. She lives in England.

Steve Antony is an award-winning author and illustrator of numerous books for children, including the Mr. Panda series, which has sold over a million copies worldwide. Born in England and raised in New Mexico, he now lives in southwest England with his husband and their cat.

Praise For…

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Inclusive and empowering.
—Kirkus Reviews

The advice written in this book is all taken from real children. . . .Things as simple as loving a good picture book, being brave and being happy, as well as more complicated ideas such as activism and loss are covered.
—School Library Connection

Readers are introduced to a group of infants of various skin tones and abilities and given the opportunity to follow them into adulthood in this hopeful message to young people. . . . The tone is encouraging and reassuring while acknowledging there will be hard times and mistakes will be made. . . . Readers will want to return to the beginning of the book repeatedly to follow the path of each character.
—School Library Journal