One Of Us

Are characters "outside the mainstream culture" depicted as individuals or as caricatures? They are being looked at as a group of people instead of individuality, and what they look like instead of their personalities.

Does their representation include significant specific cultural information? Or does it follow stereotypes? It follows stereotypes, student’s who have their hair put up, and have different lunchboxes, wear different kind of shoes, etc, are to sit at a different table during lunch, then the kids who are wearing cowboy boots, have their hair down.

Who has the power in this story? What is the nature of their power, and how do they use it? A girl named Katie, seems to have the power in the story. She tells Roberta, who is the girl who was late to school, that she is not allowed to play on the monkey bars she has to hang out there and sit and chat with Katie’s group of friends, and that she isn’t allowed to hang out with her at lunch because she is different from them.

Who has wisdom? What is the nature of their wisdom, and how do they use it?

Nobody in particular has the wisdom, all the students thought they knew it, but they all had their own independence.

How is language used to create images of people of a particular group? How are artistic elements used to create those images? Language is used by stereotypes. Pictures are used from showing different items of what children have, and the language is used by saying if you have cowboys boots for example, you are in a different group, then the kids who wear running shoes.

Who has written this story? Who has illustrated it? Are they inside or outside the groups they are presenting? What are they in a position to know? What do they claim to know? Peggy Moss wrote the story, Penny Weber illustrated the book. They are presenting that “you are one of us” it doesn’t matter what color hair you have, what color eyes, or shoes, that people shouldn’t judge on the way that somebody looks, and should be friends with everyone just because they look different.

Whose voices are heard? Whose are missing? The students voices were heard the most, and so was the principle of the school. There wasn’t any parent interaction, or teachers involved.

What does this narrative and these pictures say about race? Class? Culture? Gender? Age? Resistance to the status quote? There were all kind of different races in the book, not just one specific race or gender. The ages of the children were probably around second grade.

Analyze the illustrations for stereotypes.  What are people doing that may create or perpetuate a stereotype?
They had different images of what they should and shouldn’t do. What they should and shouldn’t wear, and who was who, and you should follow this group or that group.
Analyze the storyline.  How are problems presented and resolved? At the end of the story it is resolved by children who are not in a specific group that it’s ok to sit with them because nobody is different, and it didn’t matter what you wore or what you were dressed as.

Would you recommend this book?  Why or why not? I would recommend this book to parents and teacher to read to their children/students because it’s important for kids to know early in age that kids should all be able to get along.