Book Analysis - We Are All Alike...We Are All Different

We Are All Alike...We Are All Different
written and illustrated by the Cheltenham Elementary School Kindergartners
published December 1991

We Are All Alike...We Are All Different is a book written for young children by young children. Scholastic Early Childhood Division invited preschool and kindergarten classes around the country to create and submit books that would allow children to learn about diversity. This book, one of the winners, was written by the kindergartners at Cheltenham Elementary School. According to Louise Derman Sparks, teacher,child-care center director, and author of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, by writing this book the young authors "grew in self esteem and comfortable, empathetic awareness of each other, " and, "had the chance to recognize the basic human connections in all of us." (Cheltenham Kindergartners, 1991, About This Book..., para. 2).

This wonderfully illustrated book is sure to engage it's young readers. With many photos of ethnically diverse children smiling and engaging in familiar activities we see that "We are all alike," as the title states; we all do many of the same things, such as eat and play, and "we are all different;" we look different, have different family structures, and live in different types of homes. This book is also filled with children's original artwork illustrating themselves, their homes and activities. By using accurate photos of children and their families, avoiding stereotypes, and not placing any one race or ethnicity in a more important place than another (York, 2003) this book would be a valuable choice for any classroom of young children.

The children in this book are depicted as individuals, but significant cultural information is not given; however, neither are stereotypes. These are young children just telling us about themselves. All children are represented equally. All authors/characters in this book share the power and wisdom, and are using it to educate and delight the readers.

I would strongly recommend this book to both teachers and parents. It provides a great starting point for many conversations and activities based on learning about diversity and respecting each other. The roles of all characters are accurately portrayed and shown as important: females, males, elders and various families are shown as equally important (Bliss, n.d.), children's self-images are taken into consideration (Bliss, n.d.; CIBC, n.d.), various life styles are shown (CIBC, n.d.), and there are no "loaded" words (CIBC, n.d.). This book has been positively reviewed on many websites, and there are many lesson plans and activity suggestions online to go along with it: teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/monsonunits/.../lessonplan.html‎, teachershare.scholastic.com/resources/10841‎, and teachertreasure.com/ to name just a few.

References

Bliss, K. (n.d.) Evaluating Children's Literature

Cheltenham Elementary School Kindergartners (1991) We Are All Alike...We Are All Different. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

The Council on Interracial Books For Children (n.d.) 10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books For Racism and Sexism

York, S. (2003) Roots & Wings. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press