I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem
Actor Jamie Lee Curtis and winsome illustrator Laura Cornell continue  their successful collaboration (Today I Feel Silly,When I Was Little, et al.) with  this paean to poise and self-assurance,I'm Gonna Like Me.The duo sets out to "let off a little self-esteem" by following a seriously  self-actualized (and gratifyingly quirky) boy and girl throughout their day on  alternating pages. The kids take turns carrying the lines, often switching off  midsentence, to describe exactly how and why "I'm gonna like me." (Girl: "I'm  gonna like me / when I'm called on to stand. / I know all my letters / like the  back of my hand." Boy: "I'm gonna like me / when my answer is wrong, / like  thinking my ruler / was ten inches long.") The call and response continues  through the action-packed day, as the kids get up, go to school, have lunch, go  to a birthday party, etc., until they finally get tucked in--sonoopportunity for building self-esteem gets overlooked.Young readers will like Curtis's words and the rhythmic repetition, but it's  Cornell's scribbling, reminiscent of theNew Yorker's Roz Chast, that  makes the book stand out. From an imagined fashion-show runway walk (love that  snooty fashion press) to a hilarious lunch table spread (got to get some of that  "Cup o' Lettuce" and "Pork by the Foot" for your Doris Day lunch box), Cornell  fills the book with funny faces and lots of laughs (the best of which might be  the girl's pet turtle working out in a cage with a treadmill, next to a book  titled "Exercising Your Illegal Turtle"). (Ages 4 to 8)--Paul Hughes