Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fox, Mem.  1997. WHOEVER YOU ARE. Ill. by Leslie Staub. Orlando: Harcourt.  ISBN 9780152007874

PLOT SUMMARY

Mem Fox's picture book WHOEVER YOU ARE illustrates and describes how children around the world are the same and how they are the different.  The author touches on various subjects such as settings, languages, customs, and emotions.  While the first half of the book focuses on how children are different, Fox wraps up the remaining pages by reminding readers how alike they really are.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Fox's book WHOEVER YOU ARE allows readers to learn about other people and their cultures as a group of children fly through the sky, visiting different parts of the world.  Simple sentences are used throughout the text; each page contains three to four lines and allows the audience to easily follow the children's journey as the sentences flow from one page to the next.  By using sentences sparsely, Fox allows readers to focus more on the vibrant and colorful images that appear on the pages.  

To emphasize how children around the world are different, Fox consistently uses the word "different" to describe their various skin colors, homes, schools, and lands.  This is further emphasized by Leslie Staub's colorful, oil-painted illustrations which incorporate details of the represented cultures,  and allows the story to come alive.  As readers turn the page, they see images of children with different skin colors (light-tanned, white, brown, black), different eye shapes (narrow, round, almond-shaped), and different hair styles (blond, brown, black, red).  Readers also see a difference in language and writing styles when they see a young girl manning a fruit stand with signs containing Chinese letters as well as a class of students using Arabic letters to write their daily lesson.  The difference in cultures is also seen in the clothing and attire the children wear throughout the picture book.  Readers see Chinese females wear tan-colored bamboo hats, Native American children wearing brightly-covered, patterned tribal tunics, and Muslim women wearing multicolored hijabs.  Young readers may experience a sense of pride at seeing their culture and experiences represented throughout the book's pages. They may also develop an understanding and respect for other cultures and their customs.

While these colorful illustrations clearly show how physical characteristics separate children around the world, Fox transitions to how they are similar at the story's midpoint.  He uses phrases such as "just like you" and "the same" to collectively pull everyone together.  The illustrations emphasize how everyone experiences the same range of emotions, from happiness (children smiling and hugging their parents) to sadness (a child waving goodbye while tears stream down his face).   This allows young readers to relate with the text's illustrations because they have experienced these same emotions in their own lives.  Perhaps one of the most memorable images Staub uses is one in which children of different ethnicities are hugging the world, while smiling and hugging one another.  This image cements Fox's message that "smiles are the same and hearts are just the same."

REVIEWS:

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: "The simple text and bright illustrations helps readers to accept differences between people, to recognize similarities, and to rejoice in both."

BOOKLIST: "First-time illustrator Staub fills the interestingly bordered pictures with images that have plenty of child appeal, and Fox's paen to diversity will make this especially suitable for classrooms."

KIRKUS: "An essential book that acknowledges in the simplest of terms our common humanity."

CONNECTIONS

* Before reading the text, have students preview the images to predict what the story is about.  After the story is read, have students discuss ways they are the same to the children in the story and to each other in the class.  How are they different?  To aid in the discussion, teachers can use the WHOEVER YOU ARE extension lesson guide located at http://www.rif.org/documents/us/Whoever-You-Are_All.pdf

* Universal Language Activity - have students act out gestures and body language that reflect emotion and universal messages (waving hello, placing a finger at the lips to ask for silence).  Students will be amazed at how gestures can help them communicate their message to others despite any language differences.  More ideas can be found at http://www.bookcompany.com.ar/teachers/WHOEVER_YOU_ARE_Teaching_With_Favorite_Mem_Fox_Books.pdf