What makes me a me? by Ben Faulks and David Tazzyman
Bloomsbury, 2017 ISBN 9781408867259(Age: 4+) Recommended. Self perception. What makes me a a me? is the question posed on the front cover and all through the book as the boy with the beanie and glasses on the front ponders an age old question. The funny rhyming stanzas will have readers laugh out loud as they recognise the question they all ask, and are offered varying things that he is not. He may go as slow as a snail at times, invoking mum's wrath but he is not a slimy snail with eyes on stalks. He may sometimes be like his pup, but certainly not when he eats bones and of course he has no tail. Each page is resplendent in rhyming stanzas asking readers to predict the rhyming word and join in the fun of reading the pages out loud. Sometimes he is like a sports car, loud and lightning fast, sometimes a super guy, brave and bold, or a tree with branches that stick out like his arms, or a volcano when he blows his stack. But whatever he is like, he is simply himself, and he may be like a lot of other things, but still only a person that makes up me.
The funny illustrations will grab the readers' attention as they scan the pages looking at the different things the boy is like: a snail, a sports car, a tree, a super hero, a dog, a dinosaur, the boy next door, a volcano, and a computer. He looks at his parents wondering if he is like them, inviting readers to also compare themselves with their parents and siblings.
Children will get a kick out of the thought provoking look at what makes them the way they are.
Fran Knight