A Picture Book a Day for a Year: Day 283

Picture Book: Same, Same but Different

Author & Illustrator: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

Summary: Two boys, living a world apart, can be best friends. In this picture book about pen pals (actually picture pals), Elliot, an American boy, and Kailash, who lives in India, share their lives through words and pictures. They discover that they have much in common (same, same) even though their worlds look very dissimilar (but different). Both love to climb trees, have pets, ride buses to school, and deal with too much traffic. Much is different about their worlds though. Their alphabet is different, as is the number of people in their town and family members in their home. They both greet people, but very differently.   

Hanna’s Comments: The author learned the popular saying, “same, same but different” while in Nepal and India. Native Nepalese and Pakistanis use this saying when comparing cultures. You might want to spend some time with your audience looking at the illustrations closely so that you can explicitly compare and contrast these two boys. Be sure to look at the postage stamps on the end papers. Maybe your children can guess in which country the stamps originated.

Publisher & Date of Publication: Henry Holt, 2011

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 4 and up, Pre and up

# of Pages: 36

Available in Spanish? Not at present

Formats other than Book: Tablet, There are videos of this book on Youtube.com, but note that there is a different live-action movie with the same name.

PBT Category: Award Winner, Post 2K

PBT Topics this Book Connects with: abundance/bounty, America, art, Asia, blessings, body of Christ, bonds/connections, communication, culture, differences, diversity, exile/separation/walls, friends/friendship, geography, humanity, identity/names, openness, relationships, unity

Scripture Connections: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6)

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to a group of children who are studying diverse cultures that are united in their religious beliefs.