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"With great power comes great responsibility" - Stan Lee

With the gift to conceive you are given power. Power to create a life, and with that great power you have the responsibility to mold that life. To teach it, love it, care for it unconditionally. Yet whilst we love it, being the life we created we must teach that life to love itself.

To do that we have to first figure out how to love ourselves. Because self love when it comes to children is a reflective process. The child reflects what the parent or guardian sees as love. Including how to love ones self.

Shades of Afrika would like to present to you "Sunne's Gift: How Sunne Overcame Bullying To Reclaim God's Gift", as the children's book of the month for April. This title is written by Ama Karikari Yawson, and illustrated by Rashad Malik Davis.

"Sunne's Gift" is a beautiful story about the four children who were created to help care for the world called "magbees". Each child being given a specific gift, and each one named after the four elements. Sun, earth, water, and wind.

In the story the creator Nyame teaches the children how to use their gifts and leaves them with this message. "You are all my children, made in my image. Love one another and treasure each others' gifts". Of course easier said than done. The children although very responsible with their gifts have to learn the later part of Nyame's message the hard way.

Because the children were not taught to truly love and understand one another, they fall victim to jealousy which leads to the bullying Sunne for having different hair. She is pressured into changing herself to look like her peers and succeeds only to completely throw off the balance of the whole world. If you haven't guest it, Sunne's character is the sun. Which is a major part to the worlds whole system of things. Then ironically to make matters worse when Sunne loses her powers all of her peers loose their powers as well, causing them to have to request forgiveness as a whole from Nyame.

"Sunne's Gift" is a great story for children, and adults can stand to learn from the book as well. The book promotes loving yourself and loving others for who they are and understanding we are all important in our own way. Equally. It could have been anyone of the children who lost their gifts, and the out come would have been the same.

I say that to say; know your self, love yourself, be yourself.

The book "Sunne's Gift: How Sunne Overcame Bullying to Reclaim God's Gift" is available at Shades of Afrika. Stop by and get copy for the children in your life. "Sunnie's Gift", also comes with a question, and answer segment. I had the pleasure of reading the book to my daughter and it really opened up a beneficial conversation that parents and guardians need to have with their children.

Have you read "Sunne's Gift: How Sunne Overcame Bullying To Reclaim God's Gift"? We would love to hear about it in the comment section below.