Never be sorry for who you are and the choises you make for yourself. Doesn't matter if you are a boy or a girl.

We live in a world where we are, more and more, pushed in certain directions by people and social media. This short book has the powerful message to ignore these influences and to just do what feels right for you.

By Christina Lydia

How many times have you said sorry this week? What about this month? Unless you’re one of those individuals who have a hard time saying sorry, the often automatic response tends to be for just about anything. More often than not, women are told to be submissive, to be likable, and to say sorry. 'The Girl Who Said Sorry' by Hayoung Yim is a testament to the contradicting double standards that young girls and women face on a daily basis. As an amazing bonus, 50% proceeds from this book goes to serve Girl Up, a United Nations Foundation adolescent girl campaign.

'The Girl Who Said Sorry' is a children’s story about a young girl who has been subjected to conflicting advice, demands, suggestions, and implications on how to act, dress, feel, and think. The illustrations, by Marta M, beautifully uphold the story’s lyrical moments in a simple, clean representation of frustration and confusion.

What I like the most about this story is it’s appeal to younger readers. This story serves well as a moral tool for both young girls and boys; it also benefits adult readers to see what it looks like when adults say harmful words to young children. Teachers, parents, and figures of authority all have responsibility to examine how language impacts others, especially the young.

'The Girl Who Said Sorry' is a quick, memorable story that leaves readers with one impactful message: be yourself without apology. I highly recommend this story to young readers (adults too).

Such a cute, uplifting, and relevant children's book!

Unless the subject matter really speaks to me, I typically never read children's books; they're just not my jam. But this book is DEFINITELY an exception to that rule.

Without question, this is a book that every parent, grandparent, godparent, or anyone else who plays an influential role in a child's life should buy and share with them.
The message is a powerful and relevant one in today's world -- girls ARE taught to be apologetic for basically everything they do, think, feel, and say.
It truly is a shame, and something that needs to stop.
It's an issue that needs to be addressed, and I think this book is a great way to begin such a discussion.

Teaching young girls to be their own person and not apologize for it while teaching them to be respectful and compassionate people is incredibly important (and no small task), and I wish more parents would make it a priority when raising their children.

The book itself was well written, and the illustrations (which I was ALWAYS a sucker for as a kid) were amazing! I also love, love, LOVE the fact that 50% of the profits from the book are donated to Girl Up - a campaign dedicated to empowering young girls to take action on global issues. Very cool!

Without a doubt, this will be the first book I buy for anyone in my life having a girl.

Kudos to Hayoung Yim for making the subject of her first children's book such a relevant and compelling one!



*Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book.*

Every family with a little girl should buy this book.  If you are a feminist or believe in feminism, you should buy this book for a little girl you know.  Girls are constantly being held to double standards.  Either you are too skinny, or you eat too much.  You should be quiet and meek, but you should also speak your mind.  And normally happens when a child is found wanting, they apologize.  This books tells little girls to not only be themselves, but they do not have to apologize for being themselves.  There is no need to say sorry because someone else thinks you're too opinionated, or don’t wear enough dresses.  If you want to play in the mud with the boys, go for it.  I love the message in this book, and we do not as a society teach it enough!

A book every girl who has been told she has to be a certain way, and can't be herself, just to live up to society's standards, should read.

I was thinking what I should say for this picture book as the description above speaks volume. No review can describe or tell about book better than that.

The book is not for just young girls but for all parents, teachers and both males and females. No matter how educated and modern this world has become gender discrimination is one thing that is still rooted in this world so strongly. At age 28 also I’m facing the issues just because I’m female!! You should do this, you should speak like this, do this and that, get married, have child and blah blah blah.

And the main and sad thing is females do these things more than males. (Of course that’s my observation, not pointing to anyone) Some won’t tell their boys to behave in particular way no matter what age is but they will expect particular kind of behavior from daughters or daughter-in-law! Or tell their boys this is girl’s work, you should not do it and let female of the house do the male’s work!!! Why??

When at my age I have this question and feeling, I can’t even imagine what little girls might be thinking and where she will be after 20 or 30 years. No doubt some will grow up with thought like they have done something wrong coming into this discriminating world and will apologize for everything like the girl in this picture book was doing or some who are strong enough will turn rebellious and stand for themselves without caring the about the world.

May be this sounds more feminist but it’s not just about that and it’s more about being who you’re without a gender tag.

This book is very inspiring with simple story and simple illustrations that says a lot. It teaches not to be sorry for each and everything people say, not to treat a girl like she has come into this world with so called rules written on her forehead that the society has made for them. It was it was about teaching girls to be themselves with confidence and not being sorry for that. Everyone is different, everyone is special and so is every girl and boy.

It’s ok if a girl is thin or fat, or ugly or beautiful, shy or bold, quiet or loud, girlish or boyish,,, or whatever adjective that I forgot to mention. She is human just like boys are human or like any adult. Never tie any human with gender tag or any rule society has made for them. Live and let live.

Overall This is very thoughtful book that I recommend to everyone. I’ll say don’t just buy this copy for your girl, buy for your boy as well and for you school.

Sorry. I am sorry for can't being perfect. I am sorry for everything I did. I know that everyone don't want me to do that. I am really sorry.

As a girl, you must be realize that the society ask you too much. They want you to be the girl that they want to. They never ask your opinion. They never give you a chance to speak up by your own voice. When we think about this deeply, we should know that everything in this world still into patriarchal system. When woman or girl should act and behave according the traditions. In the end, woman or girl still get the limit to express themselves.

First, I thought that this The Girl Who Said Sorry was just like another children's book. But, the author, Hayoung Yim, tried to make this book different. She tried to include many moral value about a girl in society. Honestly, I really like the way Yim did what she did. I could relate with the story. The illustrations itself was really simple. But, the meaning behind it was so complicated and of course relate with the real condition in my society.

In essence, one important thing that Yim would to tell to the reader is, no matter what society want to, you should be your own self if you wanna be happy and no need apology for everything that you do.

5 stars for the discourse behind the story. 

Sincerely,
Puji P. Rahayu

As a girl I remember being told to play more because I was really shy but then I have to play and being a lady at the same time. When I started to be outspoken, I was told that I shouldn't talk to adults like that. That I had to respect them, even if my works were not harmful in any way. This book deals with those contradictions that adults impose to children, the expectations of being someone they won't ever be because it is never enough..

This is a lovely picture book that tells kids that they don't have to apologise for who they are. It shows in a simple way who society pressure girls to act in a certain way, a pressure that most of the time boys don't face because they often have the freedom, even through adulthood, to be whoever they want to be and don't apologise for it.
This book is an invitation to kids to be who they are or want to be without feeling bad that they are not like anybody else. I would definitely give this book as a present to a young girl.

Valuable book on gender expectations. A must-read for everyone and especially for girls, who have to deal with living up to standards set for them. The message? Stop apologizing for who you are, be yourself. Kudos to the author for donating 50% of profits from this book to a cause. Nice illustrations!

I thought this was an interesting looking book when I saw the cover. The simple sketch style with selected colour portions really reminded me of a few books I read as a kid in the 80s. Another element that appealed was that this book was about being yourself and accepting who you are (and not apologising for it).

For today's society this book is, in many ways, very relevant. Mixed messages about what you can/can't do or be/can't be seem to surround the younger generation - something I believe is largely fueled by social media.

But back to the story...it's a simple message that is conveyed well and if I was teaching an all-girl class this would be in the Use It category. I can see a few issues arising however if attempting to use it in the mainstream co-ed class - such as isolating boys. I am aware this book was written by a feminist and I get the message she is trying to convey...but...boys will ultimately face the same issues. I keep thinking of the first page with the girl in the pink tutu and then think of whenever a boy wears a pink shirt. As a society we have confusing standards but we also still have double standards. While many wouldn't look twice at the girl in skaterboy clothing, if a boy was to dress in a pink shirt and shorts - I'm pretty sure that the reaction would be much different from the average person.

So where does that leave the book? It's a good book, it's got a good message for girls. So if you are a homeschooling parent with a daughter - then grab it and use it as it could be a very empowering book to read. If your a teacher of a co-ed classroom - yeah, sorry I would exercise caution unless you have a companion book to read with it for boys, or of course you plan on using this book to look at stereotypes for both girls and boys. That could lead to a lot of great discussions.

As someone who does say sorry a lot, this really spoke to me. There's no need to apologize for being yourself! The language and examples in this book are easy for little ears to understand and the message is one I haven't seen before but it is quite important.

This is a book about teaching young girls to express themselves with confidence and without apology. The young protagonist here has to deal with people telling her she’s too girly, too boyish; too thin, don’t eat that cookie, all kinds of contradictions. Worst of all, she apologizes every time regardless of how ridiculous the dichotomy.
“You say sorry a lot!” So I said sorry.
The artwork is simple pencil sketches on a white background, until she has her epiphany. At that point it turns psychedelic, her words now coming in rhymes.
The funniest part was the bio, where, because she’s Canadian, the author admits she apologizes all the time.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

This is an amazing book for girls of all ages. The mixed messages provided to girls is written and illustrated so well. It's a book that made me tear up at how difficult it is to be a girl and how we manipulate girls into contradicting reactions. I hate that this message is necessary, but I love this book!

I didn't expect to love this picture book so much. It was great, the art is beautiful and the message is powerful. The story shows how impossible and hard society expectations are, especially for girls. The main character apologizes every time she does or says something until she realizes that is silly and decides to do her own thing. 

It is a very simple story and the message is important for kids and their parents.

Personally, I loved the overall message of this book, and could relate to the contradictions. It is very short, and the narrative switches rather abruptly part way through, but I think the second section (rhyming affirmations) is especially needed -- and I kind of wish I had it on a poster! But I also get this feeling that it's going to resonate a whole lot more with women who used to be girls rather than with young girls, and I'd want to be wary of "projecting" my experiences onto a young daughter.

This wonderful book elucidates the harm patriarchy does to girls by demonstrating the unrealistic expectations placed on them by society, thereby disrupting its harmful narrative.

A beautifully illustrated and written book to help both children and adults. We constantly say sorry for who we are or what we do and in reality we don't always need to. I recommned this book for all ages.

The girl who said sorry is a must read for girls of all ages but especially younger girls and teenagers.  Girls are taught different rules from boys from a very young age.  A boy running outside yelling and playing in mud is just being a boy.  A girl is told to be quiet and act more like a lady.  The girl who said sorry is a reminder that being yourself is important and when you are doing something that harms no one else, you shouldn't say sorry.  If you like to dress in dresses and have tea parties, if you like to play sports with the boys, if you are quiet or loud, you are and should be yourself.