Little miss YesIWill
The story about assertiveness
| Author | Tihana Lipovec Fraculj |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Jelena Brezovec |
| Original Title | Gospođica Hoću |
| ISBN | 978-953-8008-45-0 |
| Format | hardcover |
| Pages | 32 |
| Size | 22x25 cm |
| Age range | Beginning readers (5 – 7), Young readers (6 – 10) |
| Categories | Behavior, Socioemotional learning |
|---|---|
| Tag | Socioemotional skills and competencies |
SPECIAL MENTION FROM THE JURY – GRIGOR VITEZ AWARD 2019
Milly sometimes feels invisible. Unnoticeable. You must be wondering how it is possible for a little girl to completely lose her colour and feel invisible… It didn’t happen suddenly or overnight.
Milly always wanted to please everyone. She wanted everyone around her to be happy. She was afraid of arguing, so she never wanted to make anyone angry or be guilty of doing something wrong. That’s why she agreed to everything, always giving short answers – “Yes” and “I will”. Even her classmates found it a little strange, so they called her “Little Miss YesIWill”.
But one day, Milly was overwhelmed with anger and decided to stand up for herself and say what she really wanted and needed. Her inner voice guided her to feel if something is breaking her boundaries or self-worth. But what she had to learn is not to refuse something or ask for something with anger and resentment.
This story is part of a series about socio-emotional competences in children. It is a story about assertive behaviour, or the development of the skill of honestly expressing one’s own opinions, needs, feelings and attitudes in a way that doesn’t hurt others.
Milly teaches children that passive behaviour is not the best choice in situations when we should stand up for ourselves and express our needs and feelings. Milly will show them how to do this in an acceptable way, with the goal of creating stable and honest relationships.
Assertive behaviour requires recognizing one’s own feelings, needs and boundaries in relation to other people and communicating them openly and honestly with others.
Children who are still developing assertiveness, sometimes choose two other ways of behaving in social interactions – aggressive and passive behaviour. Assertiveness is the best option because it helps children to build sincere, deep and responsible relationships.
It is a skill that can be practiced and learned. After recognizing their own emotions, children can be taught to honestly say what bothers them and what they don’t like about others, but in a way that does not hurt the feelings, rights and opinions of others.
Author: Tihana Lipovec Fraculj
Tihana Lipovec Fraculj has a master’s degree in Croatian language, literature and theatre studies. For many years she had worked as a teacher, and she was also editor in chief of a children’s magazine called „Bambino “. Her life project is Creative centre “Košnica” which she has been running for 14 years and where she works with children in art workshops – drama, acting, singing and dancing. Tihana writes fairytales, short stories, songs and plays. She’s an actor in children’s plays and dubs cartoons for cinemas. Together with her long-time colleague and friend, she is a co-founder of “Happiness Training Room”, where she practices socio-emotional competencies with children.
Illustrator: Jelena Brezovec
Jelena Brezovec has a master’s degree in social studies. For a long time, drawing was just a hobby, until 2008 when she became a co-founder of the publishing house Evenio and decided to study digital illustration, with the focus on children’s illustration. So far, she has illustrated more than 40 picture books and many other publications. She is the winner of the Grigor Vitez “Bird” Award, a special praise from the children’s jury. She has illustrated the most popular children’s book series in Croatia – Mrljek & Prljek. Her illustrations have been part of many exhibitions throughout Croatia. She lives and works in Varaždin, Croatia.
