At a time when privileged kids are over-scheduled and internalizing society’s constant, demanding pressure to excel in all endeavors all the time, Seraphina Does Everything encourages readers to consider the value in down time and unstructured play. An obsession with the fear of missing out competes with a focus on the importance of the quality of experiences rather than the quantity of them.

Featuring Seraphina’s relationship with her dad offers a refreshing example of normalizing the representation of a man as emotionally engaged with his children. Practical critical thinking and problem solving situations anchor this thoughtful story told mostly in an abcb rhyme scheme.

Faces and figures rendered with the details of dynamic portraiture command readers’ attention with bold, saturated colors.

Tips for educators and parents in addition to links to other resources for managing time and expectations are also included.

What a wonderful story. First off, I absolutely love the cover. The little girl has brown colored skin and voluminous curls (just like me), which is something that I wish I saw on the cover of books when I was a kid. This story teaches the importance of realizing that it's okay not to be spectacular at every single thing that you try. Sometimes less is more. This is definitely a great lesson for kids who may be struggling at certain activities when others come naturally.

Seraphina Does Everything is a wonderful book that encourages grade school-aged children to think and talk about balance. Seraphina is involved in many activities which at first feels fun, but eventually starts to really cause her a lot of stress. This was a wonderful book to read with our own elementary aged child and we both found it very relatable.

Not only does she start to experience not being able to handle it all but she also realizes that putting so much focus into her activities is taking away from other important things. She starts to recognize that she is missing out on important times for family, friends and having her own downtime and is also starting to fall behind on schoolwork.

She talks to her dad and he is able to give her relatable and approachable advice about how nobody can do everything and especially not well. He introduces the idea of choosing fewer things that she really loves.

She takes this advice and realizes how much more enjoyable life is when she has balance and boundaries and also just time for fun. A big thank you to NetGalley and The National Center for Youth Issues for gifting me a copy of this book.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I loved the colorful illustrations and that the main character was from a diverse background. I loved that the little girl was portrayed as active, smart and kind. It was interesting that the author chose to comment on the negative impact of taking on so many activities and feeling overwhelmed with the expectations of perfection. This storybook ends with a clear message that's OK for kids to do the things they enjoy and either fail or win at them. Lovely story.