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Orangeville native releases ‘The Great I Am’ children’s book

March 24, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Self-affirmations are an easy tool to help maintain a positive view of oneself.

To help elementary school age children reinforce their self-worth and all the things that make them great, Orangeville native Jane Rusciolelli recently wrote a book titled “The Great I Am!”.

The children’s book is designed to affirm, inspire, and honour the true greatness of the reader through a series of “I am” affirmations covering the alphabet from A-Z. A few examples would be “I am courageous”, “I am fearless”, “I am determined”.

Rusciolelli grew up in Orangeville, attending ODSS before heading off to post-secondary school and currently works as a health and physical education teacher at an elementary school in St. Thomas, Ont.

“I always try and really inspire my students to have a really good self-confidence and personal image about who they are and to honor their greatness,” she explained.

“Five years ago, when I started at the school I’m currently at now, Mitchell Hepburn Public School, there was a little boy who was really struggling with his self-esteem, and it was quite evident. So, I did an affirmation activity with the students, and the whole [Great I Am] book kind of grew from there.”

From her interaction with the boy, who was in grade one at the time, she realized there’s a need for the book, and it could benefit other kids who are struggling with their self-esteem or self-worth.

“When I asked if he could tell me five or 10 amazing qualities that makes him who he is and what makes him special, he couldn’t come up with any, and it just broke my heart,” said Rusciolelli. “I thought we don’t have a resource for this, like there’s nothing in the libraries, there’s nothing out there, and there’s a great need for students to have a place to not only affirm who they are, but to celebrate it.”

In The Great I Am, following 26 affirmations covering every letter in the alphabet, there’s a section where students get to fill in the blanks from A-Z with their own affirmations for themselves.

“The teacher in me added the section at the back, which is one of many amazing spin off activities that classroom teachers can do with adjectives and brainstorming words,” said Rusciolelli.  

When asked what she hopes children get out of the book, she said she hopes the reader consciously and subconsciously believes all of the affirmations in the book, which will uplift them.

“They’re powerful for all of us,” Rusciolelli said. “I’ve made them general enough that they would align with anybody and just build people up in terms of self-confidence, self-esteem, and believing that anything truly is possible.”

When asking her students what or who The Great I Am is to them, she said their responses were incredible.

“They said it’s the little voice inside of you that tells you that you can do anything, or to believe that you are capable of doing whatever you want, and that you’ve got to decide what it is you want to do,” Rusciolelli remarked.

“I was concerned, age range wise, would it be too abstract? And it wasn’t. They completely floored me with the responses, even the grade ones. They said ‘it means that I should have a big heart and I am supposed to love and be loving, and it’s about being good Mrs. Russ. It’s about being a good person and being kind’.”

She added, “I couldn’t believe it – we have seven- and eight-year-olds, understanding this message of greatness and that it’s intrinsically inside all of us.”

Rusciolelli told the Citizen that releasing the book is a dream come true after working on it for five years and she has plans to write more in the future.

A prequel to The Great I Am about how the original book was inspired by the grade one boy, with a fun and creative spin, is in the works. As well, a sequel that focuses on life, graduation, and the future is being worked on.   

The Great I Am book is currently available at Booklore in Orangeville and on Amazon.

Rusciolelli has plans to visit Orangeville in the summer and do an event with Booklore and hopes to also engage the local library

Going forward, Rusciolelli is working on a free version of the book through a YouTube video where she reads the book to her class. It will be released to her YouTube channel soon. All of the links to connect with Rusciolelli are available at: linktr.ee/the_great_i_am_kids

“It’s never too early or too late to affirm and inspire your true greatness,” she smiled.

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