"With humor and heart, One of Us explores the stress of peer pressure and what is truly lost when we try to fit in. Its simple, powerful message: true friends respect what makes you who you are. This is a terrific conversation starter for parents and teachers, and a must-read for kids." (Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out and The Curse of the Good Girl)
"You are one of us," Carmen tells Roberta on her first day of school.
Roberta gladly sits with the rest of the straight-up hair girls, until she hears they don't play on the monkey bars. Roberta loves the monkey bars and leaps at the chance to swing with the monkey bar posse, until she hears they don't carry flowered lunch boxes. Roberta moves from clique to clique asserting her individualism until it seems she has nowhere to sit but alone. Not to worry, Roberta discovers a crew just like her - different.
ONE OF US, celebrates how children can have their own separate identities, likes, and dislikes, but still be one of the crowd. A new girl comes to school one day. She likes monkey bars but finds other students don't. That does not make her superior or inferior to them. It makes her an individual.
The kids keep saying "you're one of us," whether she likes what they do or does not, yet there are factions of kids in the book thinking they are better because of their interests. Roberts, the young girl, says, "we aren't the same," and another girl chimes in "that's the best part."
Roberta believes that she fits right in because of the fact she is who she is, and did not have to try and do anything differently. This sends a most positive message to children who believe because they enjoy different activities than others, they are not part of the crowd. That could not be further from the truth.
A most highly recommended book for all children, to see our differences, and it might be a reasonable idea for some adults to brush up on who they are as well by looking through this book. The message is meaningful and most profound.
RATING: 4 ½ BOOKMARKS
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