Girls Can by Deb Preston

“Instead of trying to tell girls who they should be or how they should act, it tells them that God made them awesome just the way they are.”

Review by Renae Powers

Girls Can is the heart-to-heart that every girl aged three to eight NEEDS to hear. It celebrates that girls can play princesses… or brave knights! Its pages follow powerful and confident young girls as they skateboard, build robots, adventure outdoors, and explore careers as doctors, pilots, farmers, law enforcement, and more.

But the book does so much more than imagine girls in under-represented arenas. Underlying every playful rhyme, and bringing it all home at the end of the book, Girls Can equips and empowers young girls with the mental scripts they need to overcome stereotypes. Emphasizing themes like acceptance that some may not understand them and allowing their actions to speak for themselves, it reassures young girls that they DO have a place in this world and in fact, were born for it.

After years of writing about parenting, Deb Preston makes a powerful debut as she shifts to speak directly to children with her first picture book, Girls Can. Exploring a wide range of interests and bolstering girls’ self-esteem with sincerity, humor, and irresistible confidence, you’ll want a copy for every young girl in your life.

Release Date: 2/2/2023

Genre: Childrens

Pages: 28

Girls Can by Deb Preston (illustrated by James Henry Dufresne) is a wonderful book, starting right with its title and going through to the last page. The illustrations are fun, the concept is so important, and the words deliver exactly the right message. Instead of trying to tell girls who they should be or how they should act, it tells them that God made them awesome just the way they are. Its message is consistent throughout: “You are much more than a pink or a blue, you are uniquely and beautifully you.”

Truthfully, this book had me tearing up in several places. I wish little me had gotten to read this book. Not that I would’ve necessarily been less of a girly girl and into glitter by any means–I’m even more into those things at 28 years of age! But I think it would’ve helped my younger self to be more graceful toward and understanding of girls who were more into dirt and video games. And I think that’s half of why this book is so important. Not only does it tell little girls that they are amazing just as they are, it also subtly reminds them that everyone else is too.

“Some people won’t like it, they’ll tell you to change, they’ll worry your interests and style are too strange. Some people just don’t have the vision to see, you’re being who you were created to be.”

This book was also healing for me in a lot of ways. It affirmed to my inner child that me loving sharks and airplanes and playing with swords is just as cool and girly as me cosplaying as faerie princesses and having a glittery phone cover. It reminded me that the things God made me passionate about are things that are great to be passionate about, regardless of gender. It inspired me to show up to my job in a male-dominated industry with all the confidence and grace of the women before me who fought for me to be here today. And more than that, it inspired me to fight for the next generation of women to be even more accepted in traditionally male-dominated work spaces.

“Some people won’t have it, won’t give you a break. They were raised to think something and that’s hard to shake. You can’t change their mindset, but you can change yours, and live an example that’s hard to ignore.”

For that reason, I really think this book is appropriate for all ages. Its message is for everyone and sometimes a simple yet poetic delivery is exactly what we need for truths to sink deep into our hearts.