Looking Like Me

Looking Like Me is the latest collaboration between Walter Dean Myers and his son, Christopher Myers. This picture book is a celebration of who we are and the many roles we take on in our daily lives. Looking Like Me sends a message to youth that life is full of unlimited possibilities, encouraging them to approach it with confidence.

Christopher Myers makes use of collage, pairing brightly-colored cutouts of youth with photographs of various places and people around the world. His illustrations enhance the message communicated through Walter Dean Myers' text, showing young people that they can make a place for themselves anywhere they choose to do so.

The art and the modern, rhythmic language, which seems to be created in the spirit of show more hip-hop, will appeal to youth of all ages. I think that this picture book could be used in classrooms to begin a conversation about the different roles we take on as well as the different ways we communicate in various contexts, making space for language varieties to enter the classroom conversation. I also think that this book could be used with pre-service teachers to discuss the different identities that students try on both in and out of school. show less

I liked this book for two reasons. The first reason being the incredible, overlapping illustrations done by Christopher Myers. Myers has taken different images and cut outs of people’s silhouettes and transformed them to create an interesting interpretation of this story about a family told by a young boy. Myers uses positive and negative space when overlapping the silhouettes of the characters with the photographs that he places in the background. The illustrations are also very abstract and may frighten children that are on the younger side. For instance on page eleven, there are four heads that are connected by the mouth and necks to create a sort of square. This could be confusing for younger children. The second reason I enjoyed show more this book was for the way the author told the story in a poetic manner. Most would assume that a story that focuses on self esteem would choose to tell the story in an old fashioned way, just telling a story from the point of view of a person who has low self esteem. However, Myers chose to have the narrator of the story feel good about the way he looks and used words that rhymed to make the story catchy and enjoyable. The main message of the story is taking the time to look in a mirror at yourself and genuinely like what you see. show less

There are a few reasons why I liked this book. The first reason is for its pictures and illustrations. They are fantastic. A lot of the pictures in the book are actual photography. And to add another feature, they added a hand drawling to the real photograph. It really gives it a surreal point of view. It makes it feel like it is real and that this story is true. It used a bunch of different colors that are eye-popping and creative. The pictures go great with the text too. But, they do not help really to tell the story. They are there for show. The other reason why I liked this book was because of its moral to it. The moral is that people around him in his community know him and they are all one. They feed off of each other and help show more each other out. They help each others self-esteem because they know each other and it makes them feel as if they are one big family. Giving the fist bump is a vote of confidence for Jeremy. It is a motivator and a positive gesture that every community needs to embrace. show less

Just 32 pages long, this brief, little picture book would be a welcome read for children of all ages, adults too, because of the message of self-esteem it imparts. I enjoyed listening to it and am sorry I did not get to see the illustrations. The narrators read it with inspiring expression and feeling. Everyone reading or listening to this lyrical, rap-rhythm presentation of the book, will get the message of hope and confidence, the message to believe in one’s own ability to be all that is possible. It is an uplifting message that is sorely needed, not only in urban communities, but everywhere in the world!

Oh, yes the roles we do play in life. They can be overwhelming at time, but the young protagonist in this story seems to be quite at ease with his role as a boy, a son, a brother, a student, a reader, a friend, a writer, an artist, and a dreamer! The art seemed unrelated to the central story line, but the cut out collage is visually captivating, colorful and attractive. I liked how the kid would always hit fists "POW" with all of the people he would meet, on his journey to discovering himself.

Summary: In this rhythmic book, a young boy looks in the mirror, wondering what kind of person he is. He goes through his day, meeting people who tell him what he is to them: a son, a brother, a writer, a city child, an artist, etc. It reads like a poem or a song, with only a few lines per page and the repetition of the phrase, "I gave it a bam."

Genre: Picture book, Poetry

Comments: The illustrations, a collage of photographs and paintings, are complex, bright, and fun, drawing the reader in and asking for multiple interpretations. The use of rhythm and rhyme appeals to children of all ages, as does the repetition of the phrase, "I gave it a bam." It would be an EXCELLENT book to use as a starting-off point for the kids writing their own show more poems that describe what kind of people they are. They could even bring in pictures to use to make collages, like the illustrator does. show less

This book illustrates that a person can be multiple things and people are complex. It also has a nice rhyme to the words written on its pages. Along with repeating the word "BAM!" every time something good happens. Plus, the illustrations in this book are beautiful and well designed.