What If Everybody Thought That?

In this addition to the What If Everybody? series, Javernick encourages readers to rethink preconceptions. Madden’s upbeat artwork features an inclusive cast of characters seen making false and unfair assumptions about others. In one spread, girls in a school restroom leer at a person experiencing hair loss; one peer thinks, “She’s probably too embarrassed to go anywhere.” In each circumstance, Javernick repeats the title missive: “What if EVERYBODY thought that?” shown alongside a variety of toxic assumptions. A page turn later, the individual is shown succeeding alongside text reading “They might be wrong!” During a relay race, kids privately express doubts about a contender in a wheelchair, but when she speeds ahead, her peers realize that they were “totally wrong!” The message may be without nuance, and some of the modeled comments are truly unkind, but Javernick suggests that stereotypes are always worth challenging. Ages 3–7. [em](Aug.) [/em]