A Person Can Be...

A Person Can Be… offers a clever perspective of how everyday activities can have opposing points of view. Both the illustrations and text demonstrate each experience simply and succinctly, which leaves a lot of room for thought-provoking discussion.

Each page offers a new situation where the characters can be experiencing two feelings at the same time. For example, a young boy reading quietly under a tree in the park can be seen as being alone and, at the same time, not lonely as his parent and sibling play together on a blanket nearby. On another page, a young girl is brave to have climbed a tree to rescue a kite for a friend, and yet she can also be a little afraid, perhaps because the tree is tall and she is concerned about possibly falling. Naughty and nice is a fun page to discuss with a child as the boy in the illustration is offering their pup some food from their plate, which may be nice for the pup, or is it, as pups should not be eating too much people food. And is the child being naughty because they should be eating their own lunch to be healthy and not giving it away to the pup.

When reading this book, pay attention to the illustrations as the same children pop in and out of the pages. At first, we see them all at home, preparing for their outing; then, through the pages, we see characters pass through each others vignettes, and, finally, all gather together at the park.
The illustrations by Carey Sookocheff are rendered in Acrylic gouache and drawing pencil, and express lovely muted greens, blues and yellows. The children are drawn as individuals that are each different from each other with respect to skin tone, hair coloring and texture as well as in the activities that they are occupied with. They are also the same in that they are all children at play, respectful of each other, and each has a balloon in hand.

Children and their caregivers will enjoy exploring the situations that occur within the pages of A Person Can Be… together while learning about opposite points of view occurring at the same time. Together, they can create some of their own examples from recent experiences to draw out and discuss.