The other children respond positively, and soon the girl finds new friends, and sees that “every new friend has something a little like you – and something else so fabulously not quite like you at all.” Įven though we were right on our block it was like I spent my whole summer with my little sister. The illustrations provide examples of other situations in which someone might feel excluded, showing a Latinx immigrant new to the country a Korean girl with different food for lunch than the others bring and a lonely white boy who prefers books to sports.īut then the little girl bravely decides to share her own stories: “And in that room, where no one else is quite like you, you’ll look downĪt your own empty hands and wonder What good is this The other children in the book boast of travels during the summer – to Maine, to India, to Spain even!īut what if all you did was stay at home and read to your little sister? When the teacher asks What did you do last summer? “There will be times when the words don’t come. Using poetic free verse in this book as well, Woodson writes about times a child may feel like an outsider and be insecure about it: How do you cope when “no one there is like you?” as she asked in a poem in her book Brown Girl Dreaming.

Woodson was inspired by a family story about her great-grandfather, who went to live with an aunt in a town where he was the only black child in his school. What if they laugh at you, or think you are strange, or what if you can’t play the same games they know how to play? So many kids will relate to these scenarios!

Jacqueline Woodson tells a lovely story that offers support and encouragement for all the children who walk into a room – for example, on the first day of school – and think with dread that they are different from everyone else.

Jacqueline woodson the day you begin