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Same, Same but Different


Title: Same, Same but Different
Genre: Multicultural
Author: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
Major Awards: None
Age Group: Kindergarten-2nd grade

 This is a sweet story of two pen pals living on different sides of the world. Elliot lives in America, and Kailash lives in India. Elliott started the pen pal process by mailing a picture of his world to Kailash in India. Kailash mailed back a picture of his world in India, and while they looked a bit different, they were both still the world. Elliot mailed a picture of himself in his tree house and said "I love to climb trees." Kailash also mailed a picture of himself in a tree, but with monkeys and exotic animals in the tree with him. He said "I love to climb trees too. Same, same but different!" Elliott then mailed a picture of him and his family in front of their house and said, "I live in a red brick building with my mom, dad, and sister." Kailash mailed a picture back and said, "I live with my family too-all twenty-three of us...my mom, dad, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins!" They keep exchanging letters and pictures, and realize how similar their worlds really are. In the end, they realize that they may not even live in two different worlds because they do all of the same things! 

 I really loved this story, and hope to be able to use it in my classroom one day! It is a wonderful book about breaking down barriers, and realizing how similar we all are. Though it might seem that others who live on opposite sides of the world are so different from us, we realize in this book that we all are humans living similar lives. I think that this would be a wonderful book for young students to read, making them realize how similar everyone in this world really is.

 This would be best for grades Kindergarten through second grade. The plot is incredibly easy to understand, and the words are also very simple. The boys in this story seem to be around the Kindergarten to second grade age, so I think that students these ages would gain the most from this story. I also think that they would be able to pick up on the message that this book sends.

 In my classroom, we could have our own pen pals, and find a classroom in another part of the world to connect with! I think that this book would make young students eager to get a pen pal of their own. Each student could fill out a questionnaire about themselves, and then mail this and a blank one to their pen pals to find ways that they are the same. We could also make an anchor chart, and talk about ways that life for Elliot and Kailash is different, and how it is the same. 



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