Can I Build Another Me?

Product Information

I shared how I have always bitten my nails, and my Dad really hates it (always has) and he threatened to put English Mustard on my fingernails if I didn’t stop. I could share – and I have just thought of this now, and this is the kind of free flowing retrieval of anecdotes that this lesson is all about – the time when I was taking a group of kids to the swimming baths with a youth charity, and I had to choose between wearing my massive glasses in the pool and looking weird, or going without, and lacking my eyesight. This is a wonderful picturebook about the nature of individuality, perfect fo r building a classroom or school culture where the uniqueness of each person is celebrated.

Some children are more than happy to wear their heart on their sleeve, whereas others may be much more reticent. To get what I mean, think about one of your classes: you will have a couple of children in there who can capture the attention of everyone in their class when they are telling even a quite objectively boring and uneventful anecdote, and you will have some children who, even if something truly remarkable has happened to them, haven’t got the capacity to tell it well. Soon, Kevin realizes that he is the embodiment of all his younger selves and although he was made by two parents, he created his own history and developed his particular characteristics. Often, the fact that some children are willing to share does prompt other children to be a bit more confident to reflect and share. The boy lists everything that comes to his mind, from details about his family and particular features of his body, to many of the things he likes and dislikes.A few months ago I recommended you Yoshitake’s It Might Be An Apple, a beautiful piece on perception and first impressions and now I am happy to talk about Can I Build Another Me? In telling these stories, what you are needing to do yourself, and what you are encouraging in the kids, is the ability to spin a good yarn – to speak humorously or with pathos, to be able to pre-empt the reactions it might get and to withhold certain information until the very end, to be able to identify the key parts of the ‘plot’ and to tell it appropriately.

is one of those so well written and profound picture books that dare to explore big, philosophical concepts in such a hilarious and inventive way, that by the time you finish reading it, notions like existentialism, individuality, selfhood or life experience are already familiar. Teachers could use this book as an icebreaker discussion to enable a new class to get to know themselves and others, for thoughtful artwork based on the fun labelled diagrams in the book or for PSHE lessons about expressing and celebrating individuality. I leave traces of me”, Kevin admits, thinking of how his parents identify his mess or how his peers recognize his belongings.After we have shared ideas as a class – I don’t force any individual kid to share unless they are wiling to at this point – we can then get onto producing our own page. Some really thoughtful artwork and picture books can be created by the class through a short sequence of lessons using this book, but more than this, the greatest strength is in the quality of discussion that can come about through getting the kids to create their own pages. I have used it before with two classes, and I have been using as part of my mentoring with some of the Year 6 children. follows a child’s hilarious, wildly inventive train of thought as he decides to make a clone of himself – and starts to ponder what makes him HIM.

As you see, the simple idea of it is that different body parts are labelled and different facts or stories are linked to each. Follows a child's hilarious, wildly inventive train of thought as he decides to make a clone of himself and starts to ponder what makes him HIM.However, before he can bring his cloned self to life, he must embark on a quest to uncover the essence of his individuality. Philosophy for children this certainly is: I lost count of how many times it opens up space for reflection and discussion. Through doing this activity, and being able to share a class full of completed little pages like this, you will almost certainly learn much more about the children in your class, and they will learn much more about each other. The book invites readers on a whimsical journey that follows a young boy’s desire to create a robot clone of himself. I could have shared the weird feeling it gives me when I wear gloves for too long, which makes me feel like I am being suffocated.

A loose set of lesson plans can be found here – I am going to use this when we get back with Year 4 over the course of the four lessons, one a fortnight, that I cover each class during their Creative Arts Day. Kevin, a little boy fed up with doing things he doesn’t want to do, like homework and daily chores, decides to spend all his pocket money on a robot that he intends to turn into a clone of himself. Distrusting the apple’s convincing appearance, the child’s imagination spirals upwards and outwards into a madcap fantasy world – maybe it’s a star from outer space with tiny aliens on board? Each page shows something different, such as his Likes and Dislikes and the Things I Can and Can’t Do.He realizes the diversity of the feelings he has, the intensity of the dreams he grows, the joy of interacting with different people and the secrecy of some of his most intimate thoughts. as Yoshitake’s reflection on individualism and the importance of building strong selves is a delight. Younger classes will enjoy imagining what a robot close of themselves might look, act and feel like, while older children can get philosophical about the factors that have come together to make them who they are, or even about the potential ethics of cloning oneself (I’m sure overly busy teachers may also be tempted to wish for a clone! It Might Be An Apple – The story follows a child’s hilarious, wildly inventive train of thought through all the things an apple might be if it is not, in fact, an apple.