I Am Special

What's Special About Me, Mama?
by Kristina Evans and illustrated by Javaka Steptoe


A little boy asks his mother "What's special about me?" His mother tells him that his eyes can tell stories without his having to say anything. The little boy tells his mother that everyone says he has her eyes, and he asks her again about what makes him special. She tells him that his skin is the color of the autumn earth, but he tells her that he has the same skin as his dad. When he asks again, his mother tells him that he has special hair, but he tells her that his hair is like his grandmother. Every time he asks the questions, his mother tells him something else that makes him special. What kinds of things does she find special about her little boy? What kinds of things make you special? I am sure that you can find a lot of things.




















What Makes You So Special?
by Eda LeShan


Everyone has something that makes them special, and for most people, the thing that makes them special is like what makes few other people special. In this nonfiction book, there is discussion about what makes people "special" and how it is okay to be different than the people around you, so long as you are being yourself. The book starts by discussing genes and how they do or do not determine the way a person will behave or become. The book goes on to say that experiences also make each individual person different. The next part of the book focuses on how our families make us the special people that we all are. The next chapter discusses how our backgrounds determine how we will handle school, and how school is able to help us develop that special person that we are on the inside. The author discusses some of the people's lives that she has met, and she also makes up some children and their situations to explain how different things make each and every person different. The main point of the book, though, is that everyone is special is some way. In what ways are you special? In what ways are your parents, siblings, teachers, and other people in the world around you special? You may be surprised by asking them!





















Something Special
by David McPhail


Little Sam feels that everyone in his family has a special talent, except for him. Sam's sister, Sarah, is very good at playing the piano, but Sam cannot play they way that Sarah can. Sam's sister, Flo, is good at catching baseballs, but Sam cannot seem to catch anything. Sam's brother, Eugene, is great with computers, but Sam makes Eugene's computer make bad noises. Sam's father is a great cook, but Sam does not seem to be good at that, either. Sam also tries to knit like his grandmother, do a magic trick like a magician on the T.V., but neither of those hobbies work for Sam. Even Sam's dog, Fred, can balance a bone on his nose. Will Sam ever find something that makes him special? What do you think it will be? What special things can you do?



















Clementine
by Sara Pennypacker with illustrations by Marla Frazee


Clementine is having a very hard week. On Monday, she gets to go to the art room to work on her "Welcome to the Future" project. During this time, Margaret, a girl in the art room who is a year older than Clementine, goes to the bathroom and does not come back. When Clementine goes to check on her, she sees that Margaret has cut out a clump of her hair with art room scissors. Margaret explains that she was trying to get the glue out of her hair. Clementine and Margaret try to get her hair to look right, but Margaret ends up telling Clementine to cut it all off. The art teacher walks in after this, everyone gets "historical," and Clementine ends up in the principal's office. Then when they get home to their apartment building, Clementine offers to use her mother's permanent markers to make Margaret's hair red. That night, Clementine's parents get a phone call from Margaret's angry mother about her hair. The next afternoon, after a bad day at school, Clementine goes up to talk to Margaret's mother. Margaret's mother is not in a good mood, though, and Clementine goes to talk to her mother about. Clementine tells her mother that she also wants to be an artist someday, like her mother, but her mother tells her that she already is an artist. So, Clementine goes to the park to look for "interesting things" to draw. On Wednesday, Clementine asks her mother to stay home, because she has cut off her hair to make Margaret feel better, but then Clementine remembers that Margaret is going to the dentist that day. After school, she shows Margaret her hair, and Clementine lets Margaret color her hair green. On Thursday, Clementine gets into trouble with the principal again when she tries to glue her old hair on to Margaret's head so they will look alike. Then she gets into a fight with Margaret, and Clementine is very angry again. Clementine's dad asks her to help him with "The Great Pigeon War," to get the pigeons off the building to help her feel better. Friday starts even worse for Clementine. There are "clear parts" in her eggs, she cannot find her homework paper, and Margaret sits with someone else on the bus. Then that afternoon while talking with her dad about the pigeon problem, Clementine gets a great idea for scaring off the pigeons. What will Clementine's plan be for scaring the pigeons? Will she get an even better plan later? Will her family like her plan? Will Clementine be able to be friends with Margaret again? Will Clementine have a better weekend than she had the rest of the week? There are many ways throughout the book that Clementine proves that she is very special. How many do you see?