Keyshawn Johnson, a Super Bowl champion and three-time NFL Pro Bowler, was a two-time All-American standout at USC before going on to win a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a decorated eleven-year NFL career. After retiring from football, he transitioned to broadcasting, spending more than a decade as an analyst at ESPN and later serving as co-host of SPEAK, the daily studio show on FOX Sports 1. Keyshawn is the proud dad of Maia, Keyshawn Jr., London, Vance, and Shyla. He loves kids and loves being a dad.

Bettina Bush is a trusted voice in parenting, multiculturalism, and family entertainment. She began her career at age seven, voicing pop culture icons such as Rainbow Brite. After touring as a recording artist with two Billboard hits, she hosted national radio shows (Parenting Magazine Live!) and podcasts (The Motherhood Corner), and she served as editor-at-large for Working Mother magazine. She loves guesting on shows such as TODAY and Access Hollywood, running her production company, and connecting with her fans at Comicons, all while raising her two multicultural kids.

Ryan Van Cleave is the author of dozens of books for both children and adults. He earned a PhD in American literature with an emphasis in poetry and has taught writing at numerous colleges and universities. As the Picture Book Doctor, Ryan helps celebrities create stories for kids and bring them to life on the page, stage, and screen.

Mona Meslier Menuau is an illustrator based in the western part of France. She mainly works on children's literature and educational works, and her artwork has been published all over the world. While carefully creating dream-like, joyful, and comforting universes, Mona also tries to change the view of old fairytales and folklore, adding inclusivity and empathy. Mona always puts sensibility and emotional security at the heart of her work. She has a peculiar talent for transpiring quiet emotions such as grief and sorrow, but also self-love and comfort, with color palettes that are appealing to children. In 2022, she was awarded an artistic commission for a French university hospital, in which she created a large-scale mural for the children's medicine and surgery department. She also works in visual communication, especially for cultural institutions, structures, and events such as for musicians, music festivals, and theaters. She lives with her son and her fiancé near the sea, where she draws inspiration from the smallest of seashells and the biggest of whales, using nature as her center of gravity and creativity.

K-Gr 4-Co-authored by an NFL legend, a parenting expert, and a self-proclaimed "Picturebook Doctor" this glossy pep talk trumpets the rewards of courage and self motivation. "You are the creator of the story of you," shouts the unseen narrator--so shrug off those voices telling you what you can or cannot do, and write your own story: "The next chapter starts now... / And it's going to be AMAZING!" In Menuau's likewise emphatic illustrations a young competitive runner using a prosthetic leg and another child using a wheelchair join a broadly relatable multiracial array of actively posed children, surrounded by showers of stars and joyfully engaged in digging up dinosaurs or buried treasure, dancing or catching a football, diving into the sea, rocketing through space, belting out tunes into a microphone, and like triumphs. But in other, quieter, more richly emotional scenes a child simply envisions a future home and family, and tenderly comforts a crying toddler.

VERDICT A driving call to dream big--but with a refreshing hint that that's not the only measure of success in life.

--John Peters, School Library Journal

Co-authors Johnson and Bush--celebrities in sports and media, respectively--joined by Van Cleave, urge kids to reach for the stars.

"The story of you began the day you were born. With each passing year, as you grow and change, so does the story of you." These sentences bookend a double-page spread showing a brown-skinned child with curly dark hair in a simultaneous succession of five points of growth--from infant to toddler to young running child. Next, an illustrated roller coaster complements the text's reminders that every story has "ups and downs, twists and turns, excitement and mystery." The next pages suggest possibilities in children's futures, most of them exceptional. Rather than suggesting someone might play football, act, write, or study paleontology--rarefied in themselves--they might "score touchdowns," "light up a stage," "write a best-selling novel," or "investigate a new species." Social action gets a nod. More pages follow in which kids are urged to ignore outside voices of discouragement and to trust their inner voice in choosing clothes, actions, and words. More ego-boosting text ensues, always accompanied by lively, colorful, literally star-studded art featuring a diverse crew of kids. The upbeat tone of the text and art makes this a probable choice for a doting grandparent to read to a beloved young grandchild. Older kids may be inspired by Johnson's personal endnote about overcoming adversity to become a champion football player.

A plethora of uplifting suggestions.(Picture book. 4-8)

--Kirkus Reviews, Kirkus

Children are encouraged to reach for the stars no matter what gets in their way in this inspirational picture book from Super Bowl champion Keyshawn Johnson. A diverse cast of children dig up dinosaurs, blast off into space, paint murals, score touchdowns, and do whatever else they want to, writing their unique stories "of you." Colorful stars serve as a motif throughout the illustrations, a visual representation of the magic of childhood dreams and imagination.
November / December 2025

--Danielle Ballantyne, Foreword Reviews

Publisher: Bushel & Peck Books

Pub date: 2025-11-11

Length: 40 pages