Actress Julianne Moore revisits her childhood through a fun story about an adorable girl who was just like everyone else, "except for one thing. She had red hair. And something worse . . . FRECKLES!" As Freckleface Strawberry tries to figure out where her freckles came from - so she could get rid of them! - the font changes size, color, and shape to mimic the mood of that page. For instance, the font is very large and bold when the kids are calling Freckleface Strawberry names, showing what it must sound like to her. The illustration style matches the spunky-yet-adorable personality of our protagonist; the children and their humorous facial expressions pop out against the white background, sure to capture the readers' attention.
If your child has ever felt 'different' for any reason, they will relate to Freckleface Strawberry. She learns to dislike her freckles just because the other kids don't have them and tease her. But when extreme measures like trying to scrub them off in the bathtub, coloring over them with a marker, or hiding them behind a ski mask don't prove to be good long term solutions, Freckleface Strawberry realizes she has to accept her freckles as part of what makes her unique. "Who cared about having a million freckles when she had a million friends?" Although your child may feel different for reasons other than freckles, you can help them see that even though the kids teased Freckleface, they missed her when they thought she was gone. Her freckles made her unique and endearing to them.
My three year-old friend Sam announced half way through the book, "I LIKE freckles. I wish I had some." I laughed at the irony and told him that I had lots of freckles when I was young. They would come out in the summer and dim in the winter. This fascinated Sam. He spent a few minutes inches from my face, inspecting and trying to find freckles. "I don't see any. Where did they go?" he asked. I explained that mine faded away as I grew up, like the woman who spoke with Freckleface Stawberry. Sam patted my head sympathetically and said, "It's okay. Maybe they'll come back someday."
--Audra