Written by one of our members, Aprilsmom!

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Product Description

April is excited to visit her grandmother, but she has to wait a whole week. So she and her mom keep busy by shopping at the farmers' market, visiting April's dad at work, and eating at the local diner. Over the course of the week, April observes the many differences between herself and the people she encounters. The anticipated weekend with her grandmother finally arrives, and April comes to realize that differences can be beautiful.

An appealing blend of colorful acrylic figures and black-and-white pencil backgrounds highlights the underlying message of the story-visual differences between people are striking, but by looking beyond these differences, we see how similar we really are.

Awards:
-Selected as Outstanding by The Parent Council, Fall 1999
-1999 American Booksellers Association Kids Pick of the Lists
-1999 Read America! Collection
-1999 San Diego Book Awards Best Children's Fiction
-2000 Early Childhood News Directors' Choic! e Award
-Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People for 2000

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #418973 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

From Publishers Weekly
No youngster will miss the belabored message of Mitchell's first children's book: though people are different from one another in some ways, basically they are alike. Young April comes to this conclusion as she rides a bus with two children who communicate in sign language, watches a blind woman reading Braille numbers next to an elevator and washes her hands in a rest room alongside a woman in a wheelchair. The author stretches her concept thin with several examples, among them a man beside her at a lunch counter who orders the same meal as hers. Oddly, after painstakingly spelling out how each person is different yet simultaneously the same as Alice, in two examples Mitchell pointedly sidesteps the issue of race. Mitchell's art presents another curiosity: though she opens and closes with finely detailed full-color scenes, in the remaining illustrations only the people appear in full color, against black-and-white backgrounds. While the visual effect may focus readers' attention on the individuals in question, kids may well feel cheated?by the absence not only of fully rendered artwork but of a story line as well. All ages.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3-A sweet dose of bibliotherapy that explores the similarities and differences among people. The story is told from the point of view of a little girl anticipating a visit to her grandmother's house. Every day as she waits, the girl and her mother go on an errand. On each of these trips, the child encounters someone who is different-someone who is either older, speaks another language, has a disability, or is of a different race-but who is doing the same thing she is. Acrylic paints highlight only a few items or people in each of the pen-and-ink illustrations, inviting children to take a closer look while reinforcing the story's point. Tolerance and acceptance are difficult concepts to address for a young audience, and this book does it in a manner that can be applied to a number of situations.
Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Independent Publisher
Overall this is a thoughtful and attractive presentation of a meaningful subject which will be of interest to elementary age ....

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Customer Reviews

beautiful illustrations and story line
let me just say i loved this book!...i came across it at my God daughters house this weekend.....it's such a great lesson ...and in such a simple easy to read way...Grace has it on her reading table as her favorite book....which is saying something.....this is a girl that has a room full of the latest toys and books....and i loved reading it to her...there's a great story line...as well as such detailed interesting illustrations...it's a must have for every child!...catherine marvis

Different Just Like Me
I had an opportunity to read Different Just Like Me and was so touched by the author's spirit towards diversity of all people, shapes, colors, conditions, and ailments. This is a wonderful starter book for preschool to young elementary aged children to put language to difference, and to begin awareness to how being different and unique... is really what we're all about. Each page has a new element, be it Braille, sign language, explanation of fruits and vegetables - and makes connections between the differences in each. Wonderful work!

Tepid and Discouraging
I've read this book a number of time with my daughter. The odd premise is that we are all alike despite our differences. The main character, April, encounters people who are different races or ethnicities, people with disabilities, even boys and men, and . . .nothing much happens.

She has these encounters before and during a weekend train trip to visit her Grandmother. (Oddly, nothing is made of how older people are different but the same.) Her Grandmother cuts a bunch of different flowers and gives April the bouquet.

This aggregation of flowers symbolizes, one must suppose, that different people can be in the same place. Gosh!

The story is weak, the premise flimsy, but the illustrations are OK.