As someone who does say sorry a lot, this really spoke to me. There's no need to apologize for being yourself! The language and examples in this book are easy for little ears to understand and the message is one I haven't seen before but it is quite important.

This is a book about teaching young girls to express themselves with confidence and without apology. The young protagonist here has to deal with people telling her she’s too girly, too boyish; too thin, don’t eat that cookie, all kinds of contradictions. Worst of all, she apologizes every time regardless of how ridiculous the dichotomy.
“You say sorry a lot!” So I said sorry.
The artwork is simple pencil sketches on a white background, until she has her epiphany. At that point it turns psychedelic, her words now coming in rhymes.
The funniest part was the bio, where, because she’s Canadian, the author admits she apologizes all the time.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

This is an amazing book for girls of all ages. The mixed messages provided to girls is written and illustrated so well. It's a book that made me tear up at how difficult it is to be a girl and how we manipulate girls into contradicting reactions. I hate that this message is necessary, but I love this book!

Personally, I loved the overall message of this book, and could relate to the contradictions. It is very short, and the narrative switches rather abruptly part way through, but I think the second section (rhyming affirmations) is especially needed -- and I kind of wish I had it on a poster! But I also get this feeling that it's going to resonate a whole lot more with women who used to be girls rather than with young girls, and I'd want to be wary of "projecting" my experiences onto a young daughter.

This wonderful book elucidates the harm patriarchy does to girls by demonstrating the unrealistic expectations placed on them by society, thereby disrupting its harmful narrative.

I love the message behind this book. It is a simply illustrated book, that looks at the varied standards and expectations often put on girls by society. The message is one of empowerment and encourages self-expression. The dedication is amazing as well.

This was a wonderful children's book. The girl who said sorry had a strong message. It was short and to the point with great illustrations.

YES! This was so sweet and inspiring! It's only in the past few years that I've stopped apologising for everything and I'm 23. I wish I had read more books like this one when I was a child so that I could learn to just be myself and that people may say that I should be this or that but I shouldn't apologise for doing my own thing. I think books like these ones are necessary reading for young girls. I loved the illustrations but thought the colouring was a bit random. I think it's great that half the proceeds of this book are donated to a United Nations Foundation called Girl Up - they help girls feel empowered to take action on global issues.

I would definitely recommend this for young girls and maybe boys too.

*I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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"To girls navigating impossible standards."

"But for my words and choices
That don't hurt anybody else,
I will not say "Sorry"-
They're an expression of myself."

Ladies: ever find yourself saying sorry for something that you have no need to apologize for? Ever catch your girls doing the same thing?

We're told we can doing whatever we want to, be whatever we want, but are taught to apologize, be submissive, be discreet, never make others feel bad for losing. Be accommodating. Traveling the thin line between ladylike virtue and ungirlish behavior is a headache. Saying sorry for things that you shouldn't be apologizing for is exhausting.

This book shows the conflicting things girls are told to be—you're too skinny, but oh you shouldn't be eating that cookie to you're too girly but now you look like a boy—and why they say sorry for things that they shouldn't be sorry for. The message is simple. It's not covert. It's in your face. Girls don't have to say sorry unless something IS their fault and it IS in their power. Owning up to your mistakes is great. Apologizing for failure to conform to conflicting ideals and for not being yourself...not so great.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

*An ARC of this book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Short and sweet book encouraging girls to stop apologizing for existing, as many girls learn to do at a young age. Definitely something I wouldn't have minded reading as a child, and something I would read to any child of my own (boy or girl).

This is a book for children, specially girls.

Growing up we (women) are taught standards that are almost impossible to keep, for example, "don't be shy but don't be loud either", "express your ideas but don't be bossy", and so on.

When the standards are broken we are taught to apologize profusely for that. Fortunately, these ideas are changing and the book opens the door to that. It gives examples of the standards we are taught and then it allows the main character to express herself without apology, and of course, without hurting anyone in the process either. The illustrations are beautiful.

I recommend this book.

A short children's story that will be great for starting conversations with both of my kids (boy and girl). The artwork is very cute, with splashes of color that make the black and white sketch-like drawings even more poignant. The book (not much of a story really) brings to light an important point to help girls (and women) fill their space and keep their hearts whole in the world.

I wasn't expecting much from this, honestly. I saw it on the 'Read Now' page on Netgalley, saw that it was only 16 pages, and was feminist, so I instantly downloaded it.

This is basically a great narrative on feminism culture with children and how parents tell little girls how to act, dress, talk, etc.

I think that this is a must read for all schools, as it implements the feminist mindset from the beginning, and I would definitely recommend this, especially since it took me about five minutes to read.

This book is so true and accurate and I fully symphasise with the girl in the story. It might have initially been a generational thing but I think probably everyone is taught when they are younger to say sorry when looking backnow you can see that there really was no need and it was just how you were taught to be polite - the books helps give confidence in this case to a young girl and will show others reading that they don't need to apologse for things they haven't actually done wrong - 5 stars

This short but touching tale is about a girl who tries tries to live up to the ever changing standards presented to girls and never quite manages....as soon as she changes then the benchmark changes too. So she is always saying sorry. She realises that whilst it's good to try to make people happy she can't do that by been someone else - she learns to be true to herself and only say sorry when it is truly required.

Despite its short length this has quite a profound impact on m. Suddenly I was transported back to been a kid and constantly apologising (although it was always "soz" for some strange reason). And realised I still do it now. So it was really interesting for me to see my daughter's reaction to this. She's six so I did wonder if she would take in the message. Well her reaction was brilliant. She was full on furious at the double standards and within a few minutes had come up with half a dozen examples of people (shamefully me sometimes) have made her confused about how to behave when she feels like she's only been herself. It started an interesting conversation between us and that is why I loved this book. It's not just a nice story. It directly addresses those double standards we all face and challenges them. I'm not entirely sure the age group this is aimed at but I would heartily recommend any parent picking this up for their daughters between 5 - 9.

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💡GIRL POWER!!!💡

This book!!! Oh, my goodness!!! Please buy a copy for EVERY. SINGLE. GIRL. you know!!! By girl, I'm talking ages from newborn to 100 plus years old.

As girls we grow up being taught so many conflicting things and then told to apologise, well, basically for being a girl. We're too fat. We're too thin. We're too quiet. We're too loud. It's the real Neverending Story.

In The Girl Who Said Sorry, girls are not told to be sorry for who they are! Let's just celebrate that for a moment ... While encouraged to own their mistakes and ensure their choices and words don't hurt anyone, they're told IT'S. OK. TO. BE. UNAPOLOGETICALLY. YOURSELF. Hallelujah!!!

This is one of the most powerful books I've ever read. So simple yet so profound, I want to read this book over and over again until I unlearn all of the sorry conditioning I've ever been exposed to. Can you imagine a world where girls don't apologise for being who they are? I can't, but I desperately want to!

Hayoung Yim, this book makes me so proud to be a woman! Thank you!

Marta Maszkiewicz, your illustrations are exceptional! They're so soft yet so strong at the same time, and they capture the feel of the book brilliantly.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley (thank you so much to NetGalley and Independent Book Publishers Association for the opportunity) in exchange for honest feedback. If there was an option to give more than ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, I'd be giving this book every star I could find.

Blog review will go live on the release date!

*thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

5 stars.
What an important book! Its short, sweet and beautifully written in poetic writing. This is sure to appeal to all ages. The message is one alot of people need to hear. We all need to know that we dont have to be sorry for being ourselves if we are not harming anyone. Ofcourse if what you do does harm, ofcourse apologising is needed. But like the little girl in this book, she was simply being herself and nobody has the right to try and change her when shes not doing anything bad. The illustrations are gorgeous! They are so simple, but so beautiful at the same time. I would definitely recommend reading this and have it given to children, although its also an important book for adults too who are still children at heart.

First and foremost, the premise behind this book is brilliant; teaching young girls to express themselves with confidence, something that is so important of this day and age of social media and an influx of messages about how young people should look and behave. The message here is quite an unusual one, but one which which most would do well to remember; that the apologetic language we have come to accept as the norm, can actually undermine our self-confidence - we shouldn't have to apologise for who and what we are.

To put it simply, I absolutely adore this book. The storyline is so simple but so powerful, and complemented so well by the black and white sketch-like illustrations with little splashes of colour. And finally, 50% of profits from the sale of each of these books is donated to Girl Up, a UN campaign dedicated to empowering young women to take action on global issues. 5 stars all round!