Maria Rousaki

Originally published in Greek as Η Μέλπω η μοναδική ("Melpo the Unique"), this charming picture-book follows the story of Monique, a young girl who longs to be different - to stand out from the crowd. Rummaging through a trunk in the attic one day, she comes across some of her mother's old things, and decides to enliven her school uniform. But each innovation - a puffy red "mushroom" hat, sparkly glasses, a decorative barrette - is first copied by her schoolmates, and then show more banned by the principal. Will Monique ever find a way to be truly unique...?

Although not exactly unique (ironic, I know!), the story here will have plenty of appeal for young readers. After all, most of us have wanted to know, or to be reassured that we are special and unique, at one point or another. The illustrations by Polina Papanikolaou are fun, and although I wouldn't say that they were particularly outstanding, they do build upon the humor of the tale. All in all, a solidly engaging picture-book debut for the Greek author/artist duo - more than enough to convince me, should more of their work be made available in English, to track it down. show less

I believe that this would be really fun book for young children and I would be happy to have this book in my own collection in my classroom. The story is whimsical and fun and the protagonist, Monique, is confident and fun to follow. I believe that children would be engaged in this book because they will continuously wonder, "what will Monique do next?" I believe that it is powerful for the students to see such a confident, unique, and self assured character and I believe that they will be show more continuously curious as to what she will get herself into next. I like the message of the story and how it encourages students to be themselves and to be proud of who they are. I believe that the story takes an important lesson and presents it in a fun, accessible way and is therefore a very successful children's book. show less

I absolutely loved this book!! I picked this book because my mom’s name is Monique, so I thought it would be a good pick. I picked the right one I guess because I loved it!! The book was about a young girl who was starting school and she couldn't stand her boring uniform. So, she went into her mom’s chest upstairs and picked out a crazy red hat and went to school and everyone noticed her just as she wanted. The school wasn't too happy about it though, so they made her take her hat off. show more She went home and then found red glasses out of the chest. She wore them to school and the school made her take them off. So, she went home looked for more stuff to wear and the school always told her take everything off that wasn't school uniform. So, finally she came to school with braces! There was no way they could tell her that she couldn't have her braces on, so she got what she wanted. She always wanted to be different and that she was because no one had braces in school. I loved the message behind the book. It's not about not listening to the school because she did listen to them when they told her take her stuff off. It was more of being persistent and unique. She just wanted to be different than everyone else; I love that because in today’s society everyone wants to be the same no one has originality. It's all about what the next person is doing. show less

Unique Monique by Maria Rousaki is a short yet powerful story and personally, I thought it was a very enjoyable read. Not only does the overall message keep the reader engaged, but the illustrations also draw in the reader. For example, when Monique finds the trunk in her attic and decides to wear the red hat to school tomorrow, the reader can see how happy she is. We also see how amazed the other students are when Monique decides to stand out but to Monique, she’s just trying to be show more herself. Being that this is also a kindergarten or 1st grade book, the illustrations are very straight forward as they should be. The biggest part of this book is the incredible theme. Throughout the story, we see that even though Monique goes to a school where she is required to wear uniforms, she still wants to stand out and be different. Every time she tries to make her uniform look more unique, she is turned down and told she isn’t allowed to do so. The determination to stand out and be different that the author portrays in unique is amazing. Monique doesn’t give up, in the end, she becomes different in a way no one can tell her not to. We should all be a little more like Monique! show less