Max Lucado’s You Are Special is a beautifully told and illustrated story for younger children.

Set in a town of wooden dolls, called Wemmicks, the Wemmicks spend their time giving each other stickers all day – stars for being good and dots for doing bad things. Punchinello has so many dots you can hardly see him.

One day, Punchinello meets another wooden doll who has no stars or dots. She advises him to go and see Eli, the woodcarver who made all the wooden people and find out why the stickers don’t stick to her.

The wooden characters come to understand that they are so very special and don’t need the approving or disapproving stickers of those around them. They also realize they are loved and wanted because Eli, who made them, loves Punchinello as well as all of the other Wimmecks for who they are.

Lucado wrote the story to help children believe in themselves and that it doesn’t matter what others think. Children come to realise they are loved and wanted because their maker loves them as much as he loves all his other children.