debra j. slover

Using the classic teaching tools of fable and metaphor, Debra Slover has created a sweetly illustrated book that empowers children, steers them toward positive patterning, and shows each child how to plant and nurture the seeds of good leadership while ridding their metaphorical gardens of the "weeds" (negative qualities that can harm children's self-esteem).

The main character, a sheep named Hugh, suffers from low self-esteem, stemming from an environment where he was often criticized and never appreciated. When he stumbles into Leadership Farm, where a more open and loving way of being is the norm, he learns from human farm staffers Leda and Aristotle, as well as other animals like Annabelle the dog, Blossom the cow, and Robert the rooster, how to develop his own leadership qualities, and how to tend his own Leadership Garden.

A central mnemonic is the acronym, U.N.I.Q.U.E.: Understanding, Nurturing, Inventive, Quality, Unstoppable, Expression. Taking one letter at a time, Slover walks the reader through creating and encouraging the life-affirming, esteem-building, leadership skills characteristic, and harnessing the six qualities together to form a "Leadership Garden Legacy" based on mutual respect, cooperation, teamwork, and other values. Kids who've been bullied may respond especially well.

U.N.I.Q.U.E. Kids is designed as a learning aid with the active participation of grownups who can read the book with a child (8-12) and provide mentoring and reinforcement in its concepts. Grandparents particularly enjoy using the book as a way to take an active role in developing their grandchildren's leadership potential.