I Can Find My Might has been specifically written for students, parents, and educators.
Gabriella van Rij ’s personal experience creates a boots-on-the-ground approach that is nothing short of magical.
Does it ever go away? No, it doesn’t… I’ll never get used to the bad words. I’ll never get used to the extreme meanness. What are they whispering? I’ll continue to pretend not to care. But, boy, do I care…
Meet three-year-old Gabriella, adopted from Pakistan into a Dutch family when cross-cultural adoptions were unheard of. Short, brown-skinned, and with a lazy eye problem, Gabriella must learn how to survive in a strange new world where she is picked on for being different from her family and her school peers.
In this gripping part memoir and part self-help book for students, readers are invited to closely experience Gabriella’s stormy childhood, which will encourage empathy while also helping students see the uniqueness they are each blessed with.
A perfect book—not only for the student who is feeling hopeless or helpless due to bullying at school, but also for those children who have bullying tendencies. In a revelatory way, author and kindness activist Gabriella explains how both bullies and those being bullied are mirror images of each other and what children should do with this knowledge.
ABOUT GABRIELLA VAN RIJ
Gabriella was plucked from a Pakistani orphanage at three and adopted by a Dutch family. Raised in Holland, she learned about bullies and racism the hard way, but she refused to remain a victim. Instead, she used understanding and empathy to defeat fear and mistrust. The techniques she pioneered are even more relevant in a country—and economy—that is increasingly global and multicultural.
After Gabriella wrote her first book, With All My Might, which chronicles her many personal and hurtful experiences with bullying, she was invited to appear on TV shows across the US as an anti-bullying expert.
Later in 2012, Gabriella heard the devastating news of a seven-year-old boy who had committed suicide due to bullying. Her compassion and desire to help those suffering from isolation, bullying, and feeling as if they did not belong intensified. In that moment, she decided she would become an activist for kindness.
On national TV and at school assemblies across the US, Gabriella says, “Let’s pick up our standards. Let’s pick up our values.” Her slogan is: “We as a society have dropped the ball on Human Kindness®. Will you help me pick it up?” #DareToBeKind
For the last three years, Gabriella has been seen by millions on Dr. Phil, ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX.
