Can I Build Another Me?

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I am interrogating the role of anecdotes in the classroom at the minute – I guess this is my little teaching preoccupation – and this book has a great scope for it. 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? Bursting with imaginative illustrations, this thought-provoking book offers an engaging and enjoyable experience that not only sparks discussion but also serves as an ideal catalyst for exploring the concept of each person’s distinct uniqueness. However, before he can bring his cloned self to life, he must embark on a quest to uncover the essence of his individuality. Often, the fact that some children are willing to share does prompt other children to be a bit more confident to reflect and share.

Some children are more than happy to wear their heart on their sleeve, whereas others may be much more reticent. 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? 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.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. 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.

follows a child’s hilarious, wildly inventive train of thought following the death of his grandfather and the discovery of his journal, in which his grandfather had jotted his thoughts about life after death and the ideal heaven. The time should be given for the children to add detail to their stories, when telling them – time for embellishment and questioning. 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. 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. Some kids might point out birthmarks or scars, some of them might talk about trapping their fingers, or about a special piece of jewellery they are wearing, or why they are wearing mehndi at the moment.I leave traces of me”, Kevin admits, thinking of how his parents identify his mess or how his peers recognize his belongings. I could share about how when I was in school, I saw somebody get bullied for wearing glasses, so when I was told that I needed glasses, I felt super anxious and would take them off in the corridor. I chose to go without glasses, but because I couldn’t see properly, I tried to take the wrong kids onto the slide, which was among the most excruciatingly awkward moments of my life.

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.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. 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.

Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc. 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.

What is shared may or may to be quite personal, but crucially, that decision is made by the children. Storytelling can go beyond narrating the written word, and I think there is merit in pupils ability to speak narratively about their own experiences.