Nerdycorn
Fun, colorful story celebrates individuality and friendship.
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Nerdycorn, by Andrew Root, is a celebration of individuality and staying true to yourself while sharing your valuable talents with others even when those talents aren't the same as the rest of the group's. Fern's work is both imaginative and practical: She arc welds, fixes bikes, uses a 3D printer, and always wants to use her skills to help her friends.
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What's the Story?
In NERDYCORN, Fern's love of equations and experiments over streamers and sparkles makes her feel like an outsider at all the unicorns' fun events. She earnestly tries to help her friends when they ask, fixing their broken toys and giving them rides and solving problems, but all they do is make fun of her. She's had enough and vows not to reach out to them anymore, but when they sincerely ask and the big dance is hanging in the balance, Fern learns a lot about what really matters.
Is It Any Good?
These brightly colored pages hold a strong message about being yourself and paying attention to what really matters, and bolster that with a challenging vocabulary to craft a great read-aloud story. Nerdycorn takes what could be a difficult feeling -- the other unicorns making fun of Fern and leaving her out of their fun -- and turns it into a moment of power for Fern. She discovers what's important to her and how much she wants to be herself, and the others see just how much her individuality has to offer.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the choices Fern made when she was angry in Nerdycorn. How would you have responded? Have you ever been in a situation like hers?
Have you ever felt like the people around you made fun of something important to you?
How can you help someone else in a situation like Fern's?
Book Details
- Author: Andrew Root
- Illustrator: Erin Kraan
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: STEM, Great Girl Role Models
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Beach Lane Books
- Publication date: May 18, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 3 - 8
- Number of pages: 40
- Available on: Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: August 15, 2021
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