I Like, I Don't Like

by Anna Baccelliere, Ale + Ale (Illustrator)

Overview

National Council for the Social Studies-Children’s Book Council: 2018 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People

An eye-opening introduction to an important issue

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that every child in the world has the right to play. Unfortunately, that universal right is not always respected. I Like, I Don't Like presents this reality to readers by showing how children in varying circumstances can see the same object very differently.

With stark illustrations that perfectly capture the tone of the book, I Like, I Don't Like will inspire meaningful discussions about privilege and poverty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802854803
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/06/2017
Pages:	28
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Anna Baccelliere published her first children's book in 2004. Since then, she has written numerous books for children and young adults and won several literary awards. She currently lives in Italy, where she teaches lower secondary school and conducts creative writing workshops for adults and children.

Ale + Ale is the creative team of Italian artists Alessandro Lecis and Alessandra Panzeri, who have been working together since 2000. Although they fantasize about creating collages in a space-ship orbiting earth, they can actually be found at their studio in Paris. To see samples of their artwork, visit www.ale-ale.net.

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews
“A hard, heartfelt read.”

Catholic News Service
“Uses two strikingly different perspectives on the same object to show how children from the same world face very different realities. . . . An astute child with guidance from an adult can use this book to open up discussions about solidarity and compassion.

From the Publisher

03/01/2017
K-Gr 2—This picture book from Italy compares the lives of fortunate children with those who must work to survive. One page shows a carefree child lying on a plush rug with her teddy bear with the text, "I like rugs," while the opposite page depicts a girl working at a loom with the caption, "I don't like rugs." Another spread contrasts a little boy playing with plastic blocks ("I like bricks") with one who is forced to carry a heavy load of real bricks on his head ("I don't like bricks."). Two pages of endnotes briefly discuss child poverty and labor, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and ways for concerned citizens to get involved. The collage art, incorporating photographs of actual children, is powerful. This is a book for launching conversations; the subjects dealt with are highly complex ones with no easy answers, and the responsibility of corporations and consumers in the developed world in sustaining child labor is not addressed. Lois Brandt's Maddi's Fridge offers young readers a less overwhelming introduction to poverty. VERDICT A sobering title that may be used by parents and educators to teach about point of view, equity, and compassion.—Laura Simeon, Open Window School Library, Bellevue, WA

School Library Journal

2017-01-17
A picture-book effort to raise consciousness in privileged readers about child labor and poverty.On each spread, the simple text reads "I like [something]" on the verso and "I don't like [the same something]" on the recto in order to juxtapose children set in very different, but related, scenes. The contrasting sentences and their accompanying mixed-media illustrations position the child who likes something as privileged and playful and the child who doesn't like that same thing as exploited and oppressed while laboring. For example, facing pages that read, "I like shoes. / I don't like shoes," depict a white girl playing dress-up with high heeled shoes on the verso, while the recto illustration manipulates scale and depicts a barefoot child of color dwarfed by a large men's dress shoe as she crouches before it with shoe-shine tools. The poignant, culminating spread breaks this established pattern and reads, "I like playing. / What is playing?" Throughout, striking illustrations include a racially diverse group of children in positions of privilege, but all the exploited child laborers appear to be children of color in different cultural contexts. Front- and backmatter pages reference the U.N.'s 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (noting that the United States has not ratified it) and point readers to organizations helping to reduce poverty and eliminate child labor. A hard, heartfelt read. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews