Kathleen Lacapa

The main idea of this book is how everyone has his or her own unique identity. The story takes place with a boy who is teased by one of his friends for being “less than half” because he is multicultural. In our growing global community, many children will be able to identify with the main character as he struggles to find his own sense of self. The book highlights this when the brother says. “Sometimes you wonder where you belong.” Additionally, I enjoyed the use of parallels that show more the book uses. The grandfather compares his grandson to a spotted horse and a piece of corn, each beautiful to look at while composed of multiple different colors. The last thing I enjoyed about this book is it’s unique illustrations. As I saw in the back of the text, many of the illustrations of the book were actual Native American designs from trines like the Apache, Anasazi, and many more. This gives the book a very authentic feel, and isn’t just using a multicultural character without referencing their culture. show less

This book was great and I liked it for several reasons. First of all, the illustrations in the book are extremely vibrant and beautiful with big pictures of Native American patters all over them. Not only are they beautiful, they have great use in the book. This book teaches a wonderful lesson about diversity. It brings about the fact that the main character, a mixed boy of Caucasian and Native American descent, looks different than his two friends who have either full white or dark skin. show more This book is very relatable to not only children of different ethnicities but to all children as well. It gives the full-raced children an essence of why someone looks different and how they might feel about that. The main character was confused why he was the way he was and his grandfather explained it in a lovely way the child would understand. He was describing how his grandson was like corn of various colors and said, “Some will see only the blue in this ear of corn, and others will see only the red, but I do not see anything less than a whole ear of corn and all that it means to our people. You are not half a person because of your color, my son; you are a whole, beautiful person.” This is an imperative life-lesson to be learned by children so they understand that it is as beautiful to be different as it is to be “normal”. It also teaches a wonderful life-lesson of taking pride in who you are and where you come from, which is a message that every person, not just children, can learn from. show less

There are several reasons why I think this is a great book to read to all children. I loved how the story used comparisons of a mixed heritage with corn and horses, which is important to Native American culture. The main character, Tony, is half Native American and his uncle tell him that he is unique and special like the horse with many different colors. His grandfather also compares him to a piece of decorative corn that has blue, red, and purple in it. These comparisons make Tony feel show more very special and he understands that being half Native American does not make him less of a person. I also really liked that the book incorporated a lot of Native American culture. The illustrations are clearly modeled after Native American art. They represent the culture respectfully. The book also incorporates this culture through traditional food and language. The reader sees what a typical Native American family eats and their names from grandmother and grandfather (Saiya and TàTdà).
The book was about differences in skin color and culture and how each person is special because of those differences. I would describe this as a mirror and window book. It reflects every reader who is a mix of different cultures. It also acts as a window into Native American culture. Overall, I think this is a great book to help kids respect all types of people and realize “none are alike, but each is special.” show less

This is one of my favorite books I have read so far for a variety of reasons. First, the illustrations were amazing and detailed and I enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed reading the story. Next, I enjoyed following the boys journey through finding out why he looked different than his two friends. This story I also connected with because it’s a story about a mixed boy feeling like he is not as whole and complete as his friends. I also really liked how the ending page of the book show more identified the symbolism throughout the story that’s from Native American culture. It was fun to learn about a different culture and see the symbolism in the book. The conclusion of the story when the boy is hearing his grandfather explain how the boy is “whole” was one of my favorite parts because you can see that the grandfather truly appreciates his culture and what his family is made up of. The main idea of this book is identity and culture. show less