Written By: Licia Morelli
Illustrated by: Maine Diaz
For Ages: 4-8 years
Language: English
Topics Covered: Perseverance, Sports, Girls Outdoors, Running, Friendship, Self-Esteem.
Summary: This book tells the story of a young girl running a race, dipping into her reserves of strength and resilience to finish when it gets to be almost unbearable. With sparse language, the illustrations sing as our narrator experiences highs and lows while running with her friends.
I love our strong protagonist, and her diverse group of friends that are happy for each other’s accomplishments. I Am Darn Tough also hits an important point that being strong doesn’t mean never experiencing pain or doubt, it’s about persisting through it and getting to the other side. Being tough also doesn’t necessarily mean winning, sometimes finishing is enough. This book is lovely for an active reader, one struggling with self-esteem, or those looking for their own courage.
Pub Spotlight is kindly offering to gift one lucky person a copy! To enter, like this post and make sure you’re following @pubspotlight and @tilburyhousepublishers! Tag friends in the comments (of our Instagram post) for extra entries. US residents only, and the giveaway runs until 10pm on Friday, October 23rd.
This book was published by Tilbury House, and sent to us by Publisher Spotlight. All opinions are my own!
Licia Morelli is an award winning and best selling author of The Lemonade Hurricane: A Story of Mindfulness and Meditation and I Am Darn Tough (Tilbury House Publishers).
Licia’s writing has been featured in Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, Publisher’s Weekly, The Rumpus, elephant journal, read.poetry, ARTS Magazine, Maine Media Workshops + College, John’s Hopkins University Press and more. She is also a poet and prose writer working on her MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts and has worked as an editorial director in the online marketing industry for over 10 years. Licia believes more people should trust their intuition and eat chocolate chip cookies (both things she credits to good writing).
Born in La Plata, Argentina, Maine Diaz, grew up drawing and painting. She was often seen drawing with her pencils or crayons in deep concentration. Cartoons captured her imagination early on and realized immediately that she wants to be an animator when she grows up. Her mother, a biochemist and grandfather were truly flabbergasted upon hearing her declaration. At the age of 16 she took a workshop and start animating, working in films like Patoruzito, El Arca (Patagonik, Argentina), Gizaku and Nocturna (Filmax, Spain). Simultaneously, she enrolled in Audiovisual Communication at Universidad DeLa Plata (UNLP). Soon after, she also started illustrating for children’s story books and educational books. In 2002 with Crimsomnia Studio, she was a finalist at Ford’s “Saldras mas” publicity contest, with “Habitos noctunos” short. In 2005 she won first prize for the character design category of Bizpills (Hi Impatc Learning Experiences), España. Currently, Maine lives in a tiny green house where she spends time with her two cats, Chula and Lola. She loves tending her garden while Chula eats all the plants and Lola jumps and climbs the trees. Maine prefers to be barefoot while painting and singing in her studio. She is a pretty good cook and sweated several years near the oven and many pans. When not illustrating, she also enjoys swimming, writing, taking photos.