Member Review

DISCLAIMER: I received a review copy of I’m Going to Have a Good Day! from the publisher via NetGalley UK in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author Tiania Haneline and to the publisher Zonderkidz for the opportunity to review this title.

I’m Going to Have a Good Day! is a picture book based on TikTok star Scarlett Gray’s daily positive affirmation recitals, as written by her mother, Tiania Haneline. In the book, we see Scarlett reciting her affirmations one day while her mother brushes and styles her hair, and witness the lasting impact that these affirmations have on her self-confidence and self-belief in challenging scenarios later on, such as a dance class, being left out of playing video games by her siblings, and learning how to ride her bike without stabilisers. In these scenarios, Scarlett’s affirmations help her to ground herself and remember that she is brave, is kind, is strong – and educates readers both young and old that they are capable of having this same self-belief in themselves as well.

While Scarlett does eventually remember and apply her affirmations in each of the aforementioned scenarios, at first, she does express her concerns and doubts to the reader. She approaches each scenario with caution, or else in a flawed manner in the first instance, such as stealing her siblings’ gaming controller before remembering she should be kind, and returning it to them in order to play with them and share in the fun. This makes Scarlett a very relatable protagonist for young readers, as her initial behaviours are likely recognisable by them, and they may have done the same in similar scenarios or slightly different ones themselves. Scarlett’s recitals and applications of her affirmations then shows readers what a more appropriate or ambitious response might be, and also shows that they have the power to believe in themselves and their abilities just as she does. The inclusion of some of Scarlett’s favourite affirmations at the end of the story is a very nice touch, giving readers a place to start if wishing to try them out for themselves.

Before reading I’m Going to Have a Good Day!, I had not heard of Scarlett Gray nor her mother Tiania Haneline, despite being a frequent user of TikTok. After finishing the book, I made sure to look the pair up and watch some of their videos that had inspired it, and was treated to some great clips of the two interacting, of Scarlett shouting her positive affirmations to the camera, and of mother Tiania showing off her ability to style Scarlett’s curls in a variety of ways. It was through watching some of their videos that I also learned that the mixed race family shown at the start of the book – being excellent representation on its own – is in fact a fictional depiction of Scarlett’s real-life family, and that Scarlett is herself biracial. Having watched video discussions by people of colour in the past, I know that adequate and effective hair care for people of colour is notoriously more challenging, and sometimes neglected by caucasian parents / guardians, so it is lovely to see the importance of this emphasised in the pair’s videos and shown as part of the story of I’m Going to Have a Good Day!, too.

The illustrations in I’m Going to Have a Good Day! are by Stephanie Dehennin, and I must say, they are simply lovely to look at. Dehennin’s artistic style, use of colour, and chosen layout for each of the two-page spreads is superb, and I found myself scouring each page to look at and appreciate the smaller details included in each. She captures Scarlett’s real-life appearance really well on the page, in particular showing off her various hairstyles in a really vibrant manner, while also accurately representing the rest of Scarlett’s family as well, bringing them to life and showing off each of their personalities. A stunning added touch is the opening and closing inside cover illustrations, which sum up Scarlett’s various affirmations as well as demonstrating some additional ones. The only divisive affirmation that I have seen other reviewers commenting on is “God loves me”, which is included in these inside cover illustrations, as well as the line “God loves you too” at the very end of the book. For atheists like myself, or those following another religion, this perhaps creates distance with Scarlett’s message if spotted; for me personally, I didn’t take any issue with it, though I do feel that in the sense of self-belief and self-confidence, this should wholly come from within and not from any external sources.

Overall, I found I’m Going to Have a Good Day! to be an enjoyable and entertaining picture book, capturing Scarlett and Tiania’s real-life positive affirmations in a fictional format. It isn’t overly long or complex, and shows the positive impact that daily affirmations can have on a person’s self-confidence and self-belief – particularly in young people. Haneline’s writing was well-adapted to a young audience, flowing easily and being easily readable, so I took no issues with that. In fact, I have very few gripes with the book at all, but two that do stand out are that it does not use the word “affirmations” when they are first recited by Scarlett, which may confuse younger readers when the term is brought up later, and that it does not directly address the possible question in readers’ minds about how to make reciting affirmations like Scarlett effective. It is one thing to recite an affirmation daily, but another thing entirely to believe it while you’re saying it like Scarlett does in the challenging scenarios she goes through, so something to discuss how to believe in the words you recite would have been nice to see.

I would recommend I’m Going to Have a Good Day! to young people of the recommended reading age of 4-8 years, as well as to any older readers like myself who maybe need a reminder that it is possible to drive yourself forward and believe in yourself without external validation or motivation. After all, we are all capable of empowering and believing in ourselves just like Scarlett!