I Can Be All Three
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- £8.49
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- £8.49
Publisher Description
Our Favorite Day of the Year meets Alma and How She Got Her Name in this warm, lyrical picture book about a child who learns to celebrate her multicultural identity and finds pride in all the stories and worlds that live inside of her.
When it’s Multicultural Day at school, a young girl wonders how best to tell the story of who she is. With marigolds, mangoes, and stories of India? Fairy tales, cuckoo clocks, and German tales? Or cheeseburgers, superheroes, and American traditions?
When choosing only one doesn’t feel quite right, she realizes that stories from all three places make her who she is. With whole worlds inside her, she doesn’t have to choose just one—she can be all three.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A child feels torn about how to represent themself at a school's multicultural day in this effective exploration of cultural and personal identity. At home, "Papa cooks/ keema and tikka masala" and "Stories of India/ fill the room"; Mama, meanwhile, makes "bratwurst and schnitzel" and tells stories of Germany. And at school, the child reads superhero comics, and "I speak English,/ eat pizza, cheeseburgers, chips." Given an assignment to create "a special item/ that tells the story/ of who you are," the child watches as the other students easily plan what they'll do. But "nothing feels like quite enough" until a family dinner suggests an idea. Asking "If all three worlds/ are bright inside me,/ do I have to be/ just one?" Alikhan renders a complex social concept with laudable simplicity, in doing so reassuring readers by speaking to "the hushed hopes/ of many worlds/ wrapped up inside of us." Pattern-swirled digital illustrations from Sofi render wide-eyed, Disney-like characters with various skin tones. Ages 4–8.
