Looking Like Me

PreS-Gr 2—The father-son team of Walter Dean and Christopher Myers has written and illustrated a picture book (EgmontUSA, 2009) that invites us to acknowledge all the people that each one of us can be. When young Jeremy looks in a mirror, he sees a "handsome dude" looking back. His sister adds that he is a little brother. He's also a son, a dancer, a writer, an artist, a dreamer, a city child, a runner, "a talker with many tales to tell," and more. As Jeremy adds identities, and fist-bumps people along the way, he realizes that there are probably many more adjectives to come. The rhythmic poems on each page are turned into exuberant dialogue by the narrators. Dion Graham has the perfect voice and intonation for the lively and savvy Jeremy, and Quincy Tyler Bernstine expressively voices the female characters. Mario Rodriquez's music echoes the theme and illustrations: a sweet girl comments that Jeremy is a dancer to a salsa beat; when he's described as a city child, there are background city sounds. Although Christopher Myers's vibrant collages are sometimes difficult to interpret, the juxtaposition of silhouette against the photo-collages and the lively arrangement of the text on each colorful page create a jazzy accompaniment to this invitation to self-discovery.—MaryAnn Karre, Horace Mann and Thomas Jefferson Elementary Schools, NY