A cheerful, young girl shares her guide to becoming a “purple person,” encapsulated in five steps she has learned from her dad, grandma, mom, grandpa, and teacher. Step one—purple people ask really great questions—she learned from her father (though she can only ask 20 questions each day about space dolphins), while step five—“Just be (the real) you”—she learned from her teacher. As she shares, she pauses to elaborate and comment on each step: when she describes step two, which her grandma taught her is to laugh a lot, she says she and her grandma “ESPECIALLY laugh at Grandpa’s funny noises,” as Grandpa is shown in a corner inset laughing and snorting. Award-winning actress Bell and author Hart include many moments of humor, which Wiseman skillfully delivers in the illustrations, to keep the lesson-filled text lighthearted and fun. In an affirming ending, the narrator exclaims, “Well, I’ll be a llama’s mama! You’ve been beautifully PURPLE this whole time!” as a llama pokes its head out from behind a tree and asks, “Mama?!” The illustrations include a variety of kids, ages, and interests, from a group of young classmates playing four square, to an astronaut, to a stooped grandma, and the book encourages discovering similarities and learning about, and laughing with, others.

What Kind of Book is The World Needs More Purple People

Topics

self-esteem and self-reliance feelings and emotions social themes self-esteem self-improvement childhood development personal growth

Genres

funny and humorous fiction

Reviews

Mom of Boys

5.00

B is for Bookworm

5.25

Book Lists That Include This Book

Books about feelings and emotions

Books about funny and humorous

Books about self-esteem and self-reliance

The Creatives Behind the Book

Author

Kristen Bell

Kristen Bell is a mostly grown adult who spends much of her time pretending to be other people. She finds this pursuit oddly rewarding, mostly because of the free food. She is also an American actress and producer who has starred in such films as Frozen, Bad Moms, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, as well as the television series The Good Place and Veronica Mars. She has been a guest editor for Parents magazine and has been featured in parenting articles on platforms like Motherly, Real Simple, Babble, and more. She also produces and stars in the web series Momsplaining for EllenTube.

Author

Benjamin Hart

Benjamin Hart is a mostly grown adult who spends his time on a rock, floating through space. He is reminded of this almost daily by his neighbor Frank. He is also a multidisciplinary designer and creative director. He is currently a principal partner and the co-president of Brains on Fire, a creative agency that specializes in building communities and sparking social movements through the power of identity and narrative. Benjamin has worked on numerous projects and campaigns focused on early childhood development and education.

Illustrator

Daniel Wiseman

Daniel Wiseman likes to draw. A lot. He likes it so much, he’s made a career out of it. Usually he draws animals wearing clothes, or kids enjoying a good dance party. However, when prodded, he’s been known to draw pretty much anything else. Daniel currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with his beautiful wife and his equally beautiful son. When he isn’t drawing, he can usually be found doing one of these great things: perfecting his biscuit recipe, hiking up a mountain in some faraway location, singing loudly in his car, riding his bike on the mean streets of STL, or napping.