Amy Roscoe, author of Be Your Own Superhero and member of Soroptimist International, signed copies of her book at Osoyoos Home Hardware recently, where it is now on sale. The book is a motivational workbook for teenage girls. (Vanessa Broadbent photo)
By Vanessa Broadbent
Osoyoos Times
There’s a new book for sale at Osoyoos Home Hardware and it isn’t your average novel.
Be Your Own Superhero, a workbook for teenage girls, is now in stock at the store and author Amy Roscoe was in town for a signing.
The idea for the book came to Roscoe when she was clothes shopping with her then 10-year-old stepdaughters.
“I really was discouraged seeing powerful images and words on the clothing for boys and really negative, self-deprecating things for girls,” she said.
That was just over one year ago, and now the book, published in July, is in circulation.
Instead of simply writing words of encouragement, Roscoe wanted to create something with a deeper impact.
“It’s a workbook and it has a lot of open-ended questions and blank pages,” she said. “I don’t necessarily tell them what they need to think about themselves, I ask them what they think about themselves and where they want to go in the future.”
https://twitter.com/BeYourOwnSuper3/status/1094836439827660800
By having girls complete the book themselves and not just read it, Roscoe hopes the meaning will stick around longer.
“When you read your own words back you’re more likely to believe them,” she said. “If she were to write down ‘I have the power to achieve success, I have everything within me I need to succeed,’ and she reads her own writing back to her, there’s probably a little more power in that than just reading a typed word in a certain font in a book that’s pre-written.”
And the parts that Roscoe did write are in what she calls a “super girls” language. Instead of telling girls to “practice self-care and rely on their support systems to battle self doubt,” they’re told to “grab their super friends so they can battle their kryptonite and not self-destruct.”
“I think there’s a real need out there,” Roscoe said. “There’s a void to be filled and I came along at the right time with the right kind of language.”
Along with her signing at Osoyoos Home Hardware, Roscoe, a member of the Soroptimist International organization in Chilliwack, helped run Dream It, Be It, a program based off her book, at Osoyoos Secondary School with the Osoyoos Soroptimists.
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Grade 8 and 9 girls participated in career planning, personal development and made vision boards.
“I just wanted to let them know that if they aim to pass, they might pass,” Roscoe said. “But if they’re not going to aim for an A, they’ll never get an A.”
Roscoe said she’s gotten a lot of positive response to Be Your Own Superhero so far, most meaningfully from girls using it.
She’s included her personal email address in the book and encourages girls to reach out to her.
“Even just knowing that somebody besides your mom or dad or teacher is out there rooting you on, sometimes that’s enough,” she said.
“For one girl to feel a bit better about themselves and potentially make a positive impact in her life and in the lives of everyone she touches, the whole thing has been worth it already.”
Roscoe thanked the local Soroptimist group for helping her bring Be Your Own Superhero to Osoyoos.
“We have a common goal and a common bond and there is definitely magic when women work together.”
