Whoever You Are - Hardcover

Fox, Mem

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0152007873 ISBN 13: 9780152007874

Publisher: Clarion Books, 1997

Synopsis

Enjoy this picture book celebration of diverse childhoods, and the essential things that make us all the same.

"A compelling exploration of the differences between children that make them unique as well as the common humanity that unites them." (Publishers Weekly)

Every day all over the world, children are laughing and crying, playing and learning, eating and sleeping. They may not look the same. They may not speak the same language. Their lives may be quite different from each other. But inside, they are all alike.

Stirring words and bold paintings weave their way around our earth, across cultures and generations and remind children to accept differences, to recognize similarities, and—most importantly—to rejoice in both.

About this title

About the Authors

MEM FOX is the author of many acclaimed books, including Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, Possum Magic, Koala Lou, Time for Bed, and, for adults, Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever. She lives in Adelaide, Australia.

Leslie Staub's paintings have been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States. In addition to picture books, she illustrated Lives: Poems About Famous Americans. She lives just north of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 3. Fox has composed a simple refrain to celebrate human connections in this lovely picture book. "Little one, whoever you are," she explains, there are children all over the world who may look different, live in different homes and different climates, go to different schools, and speak in different tongues but all children love, smile, laugh, and cry. Their joys, pain, and blood are the same, "whoever they are, wherever they are, all over the world." Staub's oil paintings complement the simple text. She uses bright matte colors for the landscapes and portraits, placing them in gold borders, set with jewels and molded from plaster and wood. These frames enclose the single- and double-page images and echo the rhythm of the written phrases. Within the covers of the book, the artist has created an art gallery that represents in color, shape, and texture, the full range of human experience.?Barbara Kiefer, Teachers College, Columbia University, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A one-world, ``we-are-all-the-same-under-the-skin'' message for the very young from Fox (The Straight Line Wonder, p. 1388, etc.). ``Little one, whoever you are, wherever you are, there are little ones just like you all over the world.'' Skin color, homes, schools, lifestyles, and languages may differ (and newcomer Staub shows how, in folk-art oil paintings mounted in gilded and jeweled wooden frames), but love and laughter, pain and tears are the same for all. The faces of the little ones in Staub's paintings are as appealing as dolls', and a beatific paternal figure in a sky-blue suit printed with clouds floats through the pages with a bevy of children in his arms. An essential book that acknowledges in the simplest of terms our common humanity. (Picture book. 2-6) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0152007873
• ISBN 13: 9780152007874
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Staub Leslie
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32