Book details

  • Genre:education
  • Sub-genre:Early Childhood
  • Language:English
  • Pages:40
  • Hardcover ISBN:9798317833190

Smile with Malaika

By Juliet Oduor Alwala

Overview

Smile with Malaika is an inspiring and heartfelt children's book that helps young readers build self-esteem, confidence, and empathy while celebrating what makes them unique. Follow Malaika's journey as she learns to embrace her cleft lip and palate and discovers that her smile is something to be proud of. This meaningful story encourages children to see differences as strengths and to treat others with kindness and understanding. Perfect for parents, teachers, and caregivers looking for Inclusive children's books, books about cleft lip and palate, confidence -building books for kids, diversity and representation in children's literature and social emotional learning books for children
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Description

Smile with Malaika is a heartfelt and empowering children's book about confidence, inclusion, and cleft lip and palate awareness. Created to fill a gap in representation, this story gives children — especially those born with cleft differences — the opportunity to feel seen, understood, and celebrated. Malaika sometimes feels different. She notices the looks, the questions, and the quiet moments that make her wonder about her smile. But through love, support, and self-discovery, she begins to understand something powerful: her smile is not something to hide — it is something to embrace. This beautifully written story helps children build confidence and self-esteem, Understand and celebrate differences, develop empathy and kindness toward others and feel represented and included in the stories they read.
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About The Author

Juliet Oduor Alwala is a children's author whose work was born from love, lived experience, and the desire to change what was missing. When faced with the journey of raising or supporting a child with a cleft lip and palate, she searched for stories that reflected that reality and found none. Instead of accepting that absence, she chose to create it. Through Smile with Malaika and the Smile with Malaika Affirmation Coloring Book, she gives children something deeply important: the chance to see themselves, to feel understood, and to know they are not alone. Her work speaks to the quiet moments parents carry the worries, the strength, the hope and turns them into something children can hold, read, and color. Malaika's mission is rooted in one belief..... Every child deserves to feel proud of who they are, and every smile at every stage is worthy of love!
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