Fox, Mem. 1997. Whoever You Are. Illustrated by Leslie Staub. New York: Scholastic. ISBN: 0-590-20027-5.
Introduction
Whoever You Are is a wonderful picture book with a powerful message: no matter how different we are from each other�every one is special and valuable.
Whoevery You Are
Little one,
Whoever you are,
Wherever you are,
There are little ones
Just like you
All over the world.
Their skin may be
Different from yours,
And their homes may be
Different from yours.
Their schools may be
Different from yours,
And their lands may be
Different from yours.
Their lives may be
Different from yours,
And their words may be
Very different from yours.
But inside,
Their hearts are
Just like yours,
Whoever they are,
Wherever they are,
All over the world.
Their smiles are like yours,
And they laugh just like you.
Their hurts are like yours,
And they cry like you, too,
Whoever they are,
Wherever they are,
All over the world.
Little one,
When you are older
And when you are grown,
You may be different,
And they may be different,
Whoever you are,
Wherever they are,
In this big, wide world.
But remember this:
Joys are the same,
And love is the same.
Pain is the same,
And blood is the same.
Smiles are the same,
And hearts are just the same�
Wherever they are,
Wherever you are,
Wherever we are,
All over the world.
Extension
One day while happily snacking away on a package of Goldfish Snack Mix (Pepperidge Farm), I had a brainstorm. I had recently read this book, and I got the idea that the snack mix made a great connection with this book. Just like it takes all sorts of snack food items�peanuts, sesame sticks, honey roasted sesame sticks, pretzels, gold fish crackers, and m&m's (I added those myself�they are not part of the original design)�to make the perfect snack�it takes all sorts of people to make the world work. Everyone is important. Everyone matters. So I took my idea to my sister, a first grade teacher, and she thought it made sense too. The basic idea is to have each student bring something to contribute to the classes' snack mix (peanuts, almonds, m&ms, pretzels, goldfish crackers, etc.) This is a very tasty lesson!