I'm Like You, You're Like Me: A Book About Understanding and Appreciating Each Other

by Cindy Gainer, Miki Sakamoto (Illustrator)

Overview

“It’s fun to find ways I’m like you and you’re like me. It’s fun to find ways we’re different.” In this colorful, inviting book, kids from preschool to lower elementary learn about diversity in terms they can understand: hair that’s straight or curly, families with many people or few, bodies that are big or small. With its wide-ranging examples and fun, highly detailed art, I’m Like You, You’re Like Me helps kids appreciate the ways they are alike and affirm their individual differences. A two-page adult section in the back provides tips and activities for parents and caregivers to reinforce the themes and lessons of the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781575424361
Publisher:	Free Spirit Publishing
Publication date:	02/01/2013
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	364,517
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.00(h) x 1.70(d)
Lexile:	AD440L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 8 Years

About the Author

Cindy Gainer has a B.F.A. with early childhood and art education certification from Seton Hill College in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and is a certified Gestalt therapist.

She is the coauthor and illustrator of the award-winning books Good Earth Art: Environmental Art for Kids (Bright Ring Publishing) and MathArts: Exploring Math through Art for 3 to 6 Year Olds (Gryphon House).

She has taught art to children from grades kindergarten through 12 in Pennsylvania schools, appeared on television, and given numerous workshops to teachers and students as an author/illustrator. Cindy was proprietor of Little Red Schoolhouse, a preschool for four- and five-year-olds, where she was actively involved in teaching young learners and fostering positive child development.

Miki Sakamoto has been drawing for as long as she can remember.

Most of her childhood was spent in her room sketching, coloring, and painting to entertain herself. Miki studied fine arts and illustration at California State University, Long Beach.

She has illustrated several early childhood books and resides in South Orange County California with her husband Kevin, her cat Jake, and her mouse Millie.

Editorial Reviews

2012 Nautilus Silver Award winner in the Children’s Book category

 “Colorfully illustrated and beautifully written . . . Children of all ethnicities, family situations, shapes and sizes and abilities, including those who are physically challenged, are shown and celebrated for both their likenesses and their differences. This is an excellent book for use in the home, classroom, or church library.”—Libraries Alive, a publication of the National Church Library Association

“Sensitively written [and] beautifully illustrated . . . a childhood multicultural classic.”—Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

Young readers will have a great time learning how they’re alike and different, from their hair to their families to where they live and more.

Lori Calabrese

A perfect book to use in a classroom, nursery school, home—or anywhere there is diversity or where diversity is appreciated.

Pamela Kramer

The message of this purpose-driven text is loud and clear: Recognize similarities, accept differences and appreciate both.

In this newly illustrated edition of her 1998 text, Gainer looks at diversity through six concepts: comparing, acceptance, listening, understanding, kindness and cooperation. The text itself is a laundry list of observations: "One of us is bigger, and the other is smaller. // ... Some families have many people. / Some families have few people. // ... We can tell each other about things we like and things we don't like. / We can try our best to understand each other." Certainly didactic, and unapologetically so. But that doesn't make the lesson any less important. The well-intentioned text plods along at a steady drone—perhaps for a few pages more than necessary—but simple and direct instruction can be influential in starting a foundation for learning life lessons. Sakamoto's illustrations are bright and cheery, providing necessary leavening. They are filled with children of all ethnicities and abilities. Such diverse objects as ladybugs, toy dinosaurs and hopscotch boards dot the page borders, giving readers plenty to examine. Backmatter includes discussion questions and reading tips for parents and caregivers.

Neither enchanting nor exciting, but grounded and easy to relate to. A starting point for diversity discussions.(Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews