Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? By Paula Faris Illustrated by Bhagya Madanasinghe Book Review

Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up is a new children’s book from award-winning journalist, Paula Faris. She was also a co-host on ABC, The View. This book is about Lina and how she getting prepared for career day and a fun project. Mrs. Garcia went around the room and began asking each student what they all wanted to be when they grew up. Lina was busy drawing in her stretch book and not paying attention in class. She was telling her friend about golden retrievers and how they are excellent guide dogs and how smart they are. They make the perfect companion friend and they are great at finding hidden things. When the teacher asked her what she wanted to be. She told the class she wanted to be a golden retriever and the entire class laughed at her response. She still had another chance to try a different answer on the actual career day. At dinner, her parents tried to help her up with things she was good at and things she loved to do. Her mother explained how she was very curious and liked to ask questions. 

 

 

 

In the book, she shared how on career day she wanted to be like a golden retriever and shared their different characteristics and traits and how they benefit and help others. The book revealed how we can teach our kids to focus more on who they want to become instead of just what they do in life. At the end of the book, Paula wrote a short closing about how we need to instead ask who do you want to become when you grow up. She broke it down to three questions we can teach our kids to get them started. One of these was, “what’s important to you?” 

 

 

 

 

 

I would recommend this outstanding children’s book on who we want to become when we grow up. We live in society that we focus on what jobs we do and not enough on who we are. This small book contains a powerful message to assist our children in concentrating on character qualities and asking ourselves the most important questions. This book is truly remarkable and if we will take the time to go over the three critical questions with our children, then we can help them to figure out who they want to become in life. The illustrations are also beautiful and help to craft the story. This book would be a wonderful book for children aged 4-9. 

 

 

 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Hachette Book Group/Faithwords/Worthy Kids for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Who-You-Want-When-Grow/dp/1546003762/

You Don’t Have to Carry It All: Ditch the Mom Guilt & Find a Better Way Forward By Paula Faris Book Review

 

In You Don’t Have to Carry It All, Paula Faris explored how society is currently valuing motherhood and the implications moms are facing in the workplace. In the book, she shared how she was a journalist for over two decades. In 2020, she was lost her job and was not resigned to her network contact with ABC during COVID-19. She was a co-anchor on Good Morning America: Weekend Edition and a cohost on the View. This is what lead her to begin CARRY Media which focuses on women and their stories on being a mother and also balancing the workplace and their experiences. She shared how moms make 70% of what dads make in the workforce. There is a pay gap. Part of this could be due to the rising costs of daycare and how it's more expensive. She also explored the topic of mother’s guilt and how this is affecting women and leading to extreme burnout. She also looked at how some studies found that women are perceived as less capable if they stayed home with their children to raise them and this more than likely led to a resume gap. She looked at the dynamics of the history of women and how their roles changed throughout the different historical times. 

 

 

 

In the book, she also discussed her treatment in the media field and how she was told she wouldn’t make it in TV until she showed her boobs more. She was told women couldn’t be in sports media. She explained how women anchors have to their outfit approved before you go on air but male anchors don’t have to go through the same experiences. She revealed how she was instructed to wear more makeup to hide her pregnancy mask. 

 

 

One of the most shocking stories was of an Australian news anchor, Karl Stefanovic who secretly made a stance and chose to wear the same suit for a most of the year on air. He shared how women are more judged on their looks and he was more judged on his interviews. No one noticed that he wore the same suit and if a woman would have done that someone would have tweeted or made comments about how they looked. 

 

 

I would recommend this awesome book about women and their role in society and all of the challenges that are facing currently. This book was very interesting in reading about everything that is happening in America and how women are viewed as qualified leaders. I immensely liked how she included a list on what companies can do to assist working moms and bring about changes in their organization. I also liked how she discussed paid paternity leave and how dads normally only take a few days when they have a new child and mostly the reason is that companies don’t offer it. There is tons of studies and data in this book to get the message across and it’s a very beneficial book. 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Hachette Book Group/Faithwords for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Have-Carry-All/dp/1546003738/

Called Out: Why I Traded Two Dream Jobs for a Life of True Calling by Paula Faris Book Review

In Called Out, Paula Faris opened up about how she became an ABC news reporter and how she wound up taking a cohost position on ABC’s, The View. In this book, she explored how she found her true calling and how God has changed her life. She also discussed how she decided to leave her position as a cohost on The View and how she stepped back from being a co-anchor on GMA weekends. Throughout the book, she was honest about her struggling with a drug of choice and that was success and how she found her identify in her work. She was working crazy hours and rarely had time off and she was missing time with her family. She shared how God got her attention and made her slow down and it only took her three times to figure it out. She suffered a concussion when someone threw an apple at her while working on GMA. A few weeks later was involved in a head on car crash when someone hit her. Then she also got influenza and pneumonia and was forced to slow down. All of this was supposed to make her slow down, but it took all three events to learn the lessons she was supposed to be learning. She revealed how important people influenced her life and how she was able to find out her calling and who she truly was inside. One of these people was David Shedd who was a retired U.S. international spy and he shared how people can find their true vocational calling. These included, “our skill sets, what we’re curious about, the skills and proficiencies our friends and mentor recognize in us”. Paula was open in sharing how she decided to change and take a step back from all of her reporting and how she found her own vocational calling. She has since gone on to host a Faith podcast for ABC News, Journeys of Faith. 

I would recommend this life changing book to anyone who is ready to find out their true calling. Paula Faris does an excellent job at exploring what she has learned from different faith leaders and even everyday people about how they found their own calling. Some of these included, Robin Roberts, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dolly Parton, David Shedd, Michael Strahan, Jay Williams, and much more. I loved the humor, she shared in how she met Dolly and what she taught her about fear. I will admit I didn’t know much about her life before this book. I saw her on GMA a few times, but I didn’t really know her story. I will say, I have much more respect for her and she has a story, readers need to read to help them figure out their true calling. I loved how she also included stories from the Bible such as Joseph, David, Jonah, and even Jesus and how they found their vocational calling for Christ’s Kingdom. I also connected with Paula’s story about wanting to chase achievement and how she lost her identity in her job. I immensely liked how she revealed her struggle with learning to slow down. As I was reading this, we are all being forced to slow down or we are being forced to change aspects of our lives because of COVID-19. During this time, I think it could very well be God using this to wake us up to figuring out who we are and what He has called us to do. Her story is very relatable and I believe her story and lessons have the potential to assist readers into finding their God given calling and who they are. 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Bethany House/ Chosen for my honest review.” 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Called Out, check it out on Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Called-Out-Traded-Dream-Calling/dp/0764235435