Picture Book Analysis

“We Are One”-Author: Jenifer Black, Illustrator: Jenifer Black, Year of Publication: October 2010

“We Are One” is a rhythmic tale in which illustrations represent and speak to children, as well as adults. It is a gentle written book witch shows children, that no matter we make different sounds and see things individually, or what our nationality, gender, faith, species, shape, size, color is, we are all the same. The book shows children in a very easy, simple way that life on the planet is different, it also shows children how all the people and animals on the planet share one sun, and they all live on planet Earth. The story in the book is very well written, it provides an easy language to follow, and understand its main point. In this book, children have the power in the story, the nature of children’s power is to understand how different the world they live in is, how every living organism is different, and yet the same. The children have the power to judge based on what they hear and see in the book, and they have the power to understand how the world is created. The author represents animals in the book as part of life, she describes those animals as “fluffy, tall, small, and some animals have feathers”. The behavior as being different is rewarded because the author wishes to show children that every person is different by size. The author also states: “We all have different feelings, we all make different sounds. We all see things individually, like what makes the world go around”. Jenifer is proving to children that although we sometimes speak different language, or feel different, or have different opinion, that is okay, because "we are all one, but different, different but the same”. The author had put together animals, people, flowers, boys and girls, in her illustrations, because she wants to show children that it is okay to be different, it is okay to see those differences, but it is also okay to live together, to understand each other, and to respect our differences. The pictures in the book present different race, by explaining that some people live where it is cold and those others live where it is hot. With her illustrations, there is a chocolate skin boy, as well as pink skin girl. Author presents her story well, with the help of those pictures. The story line in the book is presented by the issue that children and people tend to see each other differently, and treat each other unequally. The problem is solved by the author’s brining in animals, insects, trees and people and comparing them, showing children that whether a person or an animal, we still all are different, different but the same. Jenifer Black has taken under consideration race, culture, gender and age, and has created a lovely book that clearly presents the different world, and in a gentle way, the author has brought the world closer to one another. I loved the way the book was written as well as illustrated. I would definitely recommend that every preschool has this book in their library. I would suggest schools have this book because it teaches children about race, culture and being one in this big universe. The pictures combined with the clear word choice of the author, shows children how happy everyone needs to be, by holding hands, loving each other, loving our nature, being kind to one another, and most importantly, see that we are different, but all still the same. The message that the author shows is more than a perfect explanation for preschoolers about race, difference and culture.