Why Am I Me?

Britt, P., & Qualls, S., & Alko, S. (2017). Why Am I Me? New York: Scholastic Corporation.

40 pages. age range 4-8. ISBN: 978-1338053142

Have you ever wondered why you are you, not someone else? Two children in this book were eager to know "why they are they." They both tried to seek for the answer to their common question and finally found the empathy between each other. The book is presented in a poetic form which follows the internal monologue of both characters. They list many possibilities of being other people rather than themselves. The main idea of this book emphasizes humanity and diversity as well as invites readers to imagine a world without you or me, only us.

The first thing that drew my attention was not the content or the text of the book but the illustration. The illustration of this book is very interesting due to the illustrator painted on the pages of the newspapers. The first time I read this book, I did not like it. As I read more, I realized the question that the two children had could be an educational question to teach in social studies. The theme of this book aligns well with Hawaii social studies standards of teaching Individual Development and Identity. I would recommend this book because it can be used as a great picture book to read aloud to your students. Moreover, the author claimed this book is for all ages; therefore, it would also be useful as a beginning book for teaching psychology.

Reviewed by: April Huang