Title: Whoever You Are
Author: Mem Fox
Illustrator: Leslie Staub
ISBN: 0152007873
Publisher: Voyager Books
Genre: Multicultural Picture Book
Guided Reading Level: H
* I may have many favorites, but this is my absolute favorite! In my heart, I have always believed that people are no different from me. Our experiences might be different, but our emotions are not! Even if we handle our emotions differently; pain is pain and happiness is happiness. I am glad that Mem Fox has put this to print so that we can recognize the importance of our differences and the closeness of our similarities.
A great multicultural picture book should rejoice in both the similarities as well as the differences of many cultures. Being that New York is considered as the great melting pot of the world and there are so many ethnicities that formed our very own local culture I have had the privilege in learning about many different cultures through friends and family. My family has grown in size quite a bit over the years as my siblings began to get married and start families of their own. As we grew in size we grew in languages adding Hebrew, Spanish, and Creole. I began to experience different traditions, superstitions, beliefs and (my favorite part) food. Unfortunately, I have also experienced the ignorance that some people have towards people that are different from them. When I first read Whoever You Are, by Mem Fox I fell in love! Mem fox takes you around the world to look at people of different color, language and tradition. Then she explains that the emotions of people are no different from one person to the next in order to show how similar people are regardless of their differences. There are bad people in the world, but it is not their color that makes them bad it is their lack of care for others that allows them to do bad things.
Mem Fox was inspired to write Whoever You Are after reading about the actions of an eighteen year old girl during wartime in Bosnia. The girl turned against a boy that she had recently been in school with. Mem Fox felt that the girl never should have seen the boy as an enemy, but rather as a friend who was the same as her. Mem Fox also used rhyme, rhythm and repetition in her writing which helps children to read this wonderful story on their own. This book is great for lesson’s on compare and contrast which can help children to further comprehend the meaningfulness of the story. The illustrations are warm, colorful and inviting to readers. The illustrator, Leslie Staub, draws the narrator travelling from place to place throughout the story. Children will find it fun to point out the whereabouts of the narrator in each illustration. Teachers can ask the class to find the narrator in the illustrations which will help further hold the student’s attention. Most of all, the children will learn that the world is one which we all share so we should learn to understand one another and treat each other with respect. This story brings me back to the old saying, “One should treat others as they would like to be treated” which can be a hard concept for young children since they are still developing their social skills. This book helps children learn to consider others’ feelings by relating the emotions of others to their own. It seems that children are not the only one's that could learn from this story, but at least we can teach them to learn from our mistakes.
The school I teach in is very culturally diverse and we celebrate diversity every day. I feel that it is a great opportunity for children of various cultures to grow and learn together. I feel blessed to be able to give them the opportunity to learn and accept the cultures of one another. There is definitely ignorance in the world and it can easily be passed down to young minds if they are not guided in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned in your blog, New York City is a melting pot. This increases the chance of classrooms being filled with diversity. This book teaches a lesson that should not end with early childhood education. It seems to me that you were fascinated with Mem Fox’s ability to teach different cultures to children in an exciting way. I am eager to use this book as a learning tool in my classroom.