What Can I Say?: How to Speak Up, Speak Out, Deal with Hard Things, and Be a Good Friend Paperback – 24 May 2022

One would think that this book is essential mainly for introverts (such as myself) who freeze at the mention of intermingling with strangers or going to a party alone. But the book is aimed not just at those who are reserved but also to those who are comfortable speaking in public but want to know how to interact better.Communication is important, everyone already knows this. But to many people, communication involves merely talking. Effective communication needs be so much more than that. Furthermore, you have the social difficulties of establishing right communication with school peers or office colleagues or neighbours or strangers. This book helps youngsters to handle all their problems regarding the right way to communicate.The book covers a vast range of topics; from basic hellos and goodbyes to having a conversation, from simply getting along to handling difficult topics such as apologies or gossip. It even includes a section on handling a romantic relationship (with an addendum saying that the section may be skipped and read at the right time) and a section on caring for the community (though I did feel that including content on activism stretched the idea of better communication a bit too far.) To suit the need of the day, there’s also a whole section dedicated to contemporary topics such as using the right pronouns, responding to someone who is coming out, how to respond to offensive jokes, sticking up against prejudice, and so on. Every section is handled in a very practical way such that children will be able to implement the ideas easily. There is a lot of humour in the content, making it further accessible to this young age group.There is an abundance of illustrations exemplifying every advice in the book, which makes the advice easier to visualise and follow. The illustrations are inclusive too, huge bonus points for that.Heartily recommended to all youngsters, parents, teachers, schools and libraries.4.25 stars from me.Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request and these are my honest thoughts about it.