Malena Ballena (Malena the Whale): A book that helps to overcome low self-esteem

The picture book Malena Ballena (Libros del Zorro Rojo, 2010), written by Davide Cali and illustrated by Sonja Bougaeva, tells the story of Malena, a fat girl who has swimming lessons on Wednesdays. She doesn't like to go into the pool because when she dives into the water, she makes big splashes of water, and the children yell at her, "Malena is a whale!".

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This makes Malena feel self-conscious and every time she moves, strokes or tries to swim, she feels like she's causing a "tsunami." For this reason, she doesn't like swimming or being in the pool. Malena's mind had transformed her into what others told her... she felt heavy and as big as a whale.

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Noticing that Malena was discouraged during the lessons, one day her swimming teacher told her: "We are what we think we are," and gave her very useful advice. He recommended her that if she wants to be light, she has to think she is.

This gives Malena the impetus to see things from a different perspective. Every time something frightens her, she imagines how her body looks, how it feels: if she wants to be crystal clear water to relax, a hedgehog waiting for winter in its burrow to sleep, a kangaroo to jump high...

And in addition to bullying, unfortunately our protagonist has to face another evil: sexual harassment. Without giving much explanation, the story tells us that when Malena leaves the pool late and goes home, a man stalks her and says, "Where are you going, little mushroom?". The author tells us:

Malena didn't like those words at all. She never answered and ran without looking at him.

With the help of her teacher's advice, Malena imagines that she is huge, giant, and stares at the man in the eye, and when he was about to open his mouth, that stranger said nothing. Malena is happy to think that the technique works.

The next swimming lesson arrives, and this time Malena feels light in the water. "She moved like a fish, thought 'sardine,' 'eel,' 'barracuda,' 'shark'"... And every time she imagines faster and more agile things, and Malena can do all the swimming styles she wanted. Everyone applauded her and didn't insult her anymore.

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One of the girls, believing that Malena wouldn't dare, proposes her to jump off the highest trampoline. And Malena thinks with all her strength before jumping that she is a whale... Or rather, "a super whale!", and she bathes the girl in water.

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This story shows us many circumstances that girls must live with: low self-esteem as a result of cruel comments and the standards of society in general; the mistaken perception they have of themselves because of these labels; sexual harassment from which women do not escape, whatever their age, specifically street harassment.

But it also shows us the capacity of empathy of the people who love us, the good that positive advice can do; how the perception of ourselves is much more powerful than any comment made with bad intentions towards us; the influence that the mind has on our body.

By imagining herself in a thousand ways, Malena learned to see the value in herself and in her body. She understood that with her body, she can do whatever she wants and more. She even managed to get the boy she likes to look at her and smile at her, because she feels more confident and she passes it on to others. And finally, she doesn't mind being called a "whale" because it's simply not a bad thing. She is as she is, and so she is happy.

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