Becoming

Author – Michelle Obama

Recommended for children 13+ and all adults.

All the way while reading ‘Becoming’ by Michelle Obama, I debate in my head should
I recommend the book to children. Where I sat in awe, sucked into it and inspired
every moment, I wondered are children ready for it? Why would they care that after
looking down upon on blacks the same nation elected an ordinary black man as its
President twice? Would they be keen to see this passage of History through the lens
of his wife?
Till Michelle herself came to my rescue as she writes on the 2 nd last page of the
book-
“There are portraits of me and Barack now hanging in the National Portrait of Gallery
in Washington, a fact that humbles us both. I doubt that anyone looking at our two
childhoods, our circumstances, would ever have predicted we’d land in those halls.
The paintings are lovely, but what matters most is that they are there for young
people to see-that our faces help dismantle the perception that in order to be
enshrined in history, you have to look a certain way. If we belong, then so, too, can
many others”
Children out there, I hope this book will make you look at your dreams and fears,
both. And eventually choose one over the other. It is this choice that will make all the
difference. While we the adults underestimate and limit you, hope stories like these
will make you believe that if they can so can I. Only in the sound of your footsteps,
we can quieten the noise of our questions of doubt. Lead us on children, we are here
to follow you.
Note: This book is not at all a political book but a human story. Though there are
insights into the political life but very interesting to know. Recommended for children
13+ and all adults. Parents can choose to read the book to their children if they judge
the book as boring, a journey worth undertaking together.