Just because

Title:

Just because

Author:

McConaughey, Matthew, 1969- author.

Summary:

Have you ever felt worried and excited at the same time? Have you ever had your feelings hurt but forgiven someone anyway? Have you ever thought there was more than one right answer to a question? That’s because contradictions are all around us. And they make us who we are. -- Amazon.

Audience:

Ages 4-8 years.

Grades K-1.

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged): color illustrations; 28 cm

Genre:

Picture books.

Subject Term:

Self-actualization (Psychology) in children -- Juvenile fiction.

Perspective (Philosophy) -- Juvenile fiction.

Self-acceptance -- Juvenile fiction.

Author(s):

Kurilla, Renée,

Publisher:

Viking,

Publication Date:

2023

ISBN:

9780593622032

Publication Information:

New York : Viking, 2023.

Call Number:

P MCCONAUGHEY

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003688218	New Picture Books	MCCONAUGHEY	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

The debut picture book by Academy Award-winning actor and #1 New York Times bestselling author Matthew McConaughey

Just because I'm in the race,
doesn't mean I'm fully ready.
Just because I'm shaking,
doesn't mean that I'm not steady.

Have you ever felt worried and excited at the same time?

Have you ever had your feelings hurt but forgiven someone anyway?

Have you ever thought there was more than one right answer to a question?

That's because contradictions are all around us. And they make us who we are.

Filled with his trademark humor and wisdom, Academy Award-winning actor and #1 New York Times bestselling author Matthew McConaughey has crafted a soulful and irreverent collection of life lessons that empowers readers, big and small, to celebrate how we are all full of possibility.

Why? Just because.

Author Notes

Matthew McConaughey is the Academy Award-winning actor and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Greenlights . He also created Greenlights: Your Journal, Your Journey , a guided companion that inspires readers to write down and reflect on their feelings, adventures, and dreams. Matthew and his wife, Camila, founded the just keep livin Foundation, which is dedicated to empowering high school students by providing them with the tools to lead active lives and make healthy choices for a better future. He is a professor of practice and a Minister of Culture for the University of Texas at Austin, where he lives with his wife and three children. Matthew is a storyteller, a tree house builder, and a pickle expert. You can visit Matthew on Instagram @OfficiallyMcConaughey or on Twitter @McConaughey.

Renée Kurilla is the author and illustrator of many books for young readers. She has a BFA in illustration and a minor in graphic design from Lesley University College of Art and Design. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, daughter, and a fish named Yoshi. You can visit Renée at Kurillastration.com or on Instagram and Twitter @ReneeKurilla.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In his picture book debut, actor McConaughey offers up some folksy wisdom about life's often contradictory nature. Tracing moments of kindness and hurt, clarity and befuddlement, and achievement and catastrophe, a series of short, rhyming assertions begin "Just because..." paired with the rejoinder "doesn't mean...." In one vignette, a child snatches a ball from another, and the narrator notes, "Just because you're a bully,/ doesn't mean that you're strong"; directly below, the aggressor, now hit with remorse, realizes that "Just because it felt right then,/ doesn't mean it won't feel wrong." Variably saturated, digitally cartooned vignettes by Kurilla (One Springy, Singy Day!) show kids of various abilities and skin tones engaging in everyday life--baths and meals, parties and hangs. Some of the messaging doesn't quite land ("Just because a hand is clenched,/ doesn't mean that it's a fist," feels at odds with an image about surprise gift giving), and a little of the parallel phrasing goes a long way, but the homespun homilies effectively communicate that everyone's a complex being trying their best, that things move on--and that life can be alright, alright, alright. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Matthew Elblonk, DeFiore & Co. Illustrator's agent: Jen Rofé, Andrea Brown Literary. (Sept.)