Cassandra's Angel by Gina Otto, illustrated by Trudy Joost ages 4-8 32 pages Illumination Arts October 2001 Hardcover     Cassandra’s angel shares a secret with her—your life is not dictated by the stories other people tell you about your life. The book begins by showing the different influences in Cassandra’s life and the things they tell her. Her mother tells her she’s a mess because her room is messy. Her peers tell her that she is too different looking to play with them. Her teacher gets frustrated because she doesn’t follow his exact directions. Cassandra begins to take all of this criticism to heart until her angel appears and tells her that she can write her own “story” about what she thinks of herself. Cassandra's Angel is beautifully written and illustrated and will truly resonate with children and adults alike. It teaches the valuable lesson that we can’t believe everything people say to us, we have to believe in ourselves. The rhymes stick with the reader and will entice even very young children to listen to the story over and over again. Combining relevant lessons and an interesting plot make a winning pair.     web reviews   Melissa Parcel/2005 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)