I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is, on the surface, a rather nice one about learning to accept the things about yourself that make you different regardless of what anyone else says. It's when I began to think about it a little further that I got a bit sad for Lila.

Lila is a new student at school. She's fairly young, but not so young that she doesn't run into bullies. One in particular makes her so ashamed of the way that she looks that she comes to school each day hiding another facet of herself: her hair, her eyes, her skin. To be taken down that harshly so quickly is sad.

She does eventually learn to love herself in spite of this bully's cruel words with the help of a crow that lives nearby and refuses to leave her alone, even when she's at her lowest.

What made me sad thinking back on this story was that while yes, it is a good story about learning to love yourself, no human helps Lila. No teacher or adult notices what she goes through. The bully probably won't change in the end, though at the school's festival he doesn't say anything about her fantastic crow costume. It's a reflective story of what often happens to children that get bullied. A lot of adults don't notice and while some, like Lila, might be able to find their way, a lot won't. It's important to keep an eye out and notice things. You just don't know what will happen if you don't.