My Song is Beautiful

All of the poems throughout this book teach that it is important to be proud of who you are, what you look like and where you came from. All of the poems are very different but talk about the same things. They teach children that in fact all kids have many similarities amongst all of their differences. The pictures are great because they do not go together, some look like actual photographs, some like paintings and some very animated. All of these differences are brought together by the poems that include people who are happy with being themselves. My favorite poem in this book is called Me, and is from the voice of a little girl stating all of the imperfections about herself. Then at the end she says that she is very lovely. This is a great way to teach students that children come in all shapes and sizes although everyone looks different on the outside, they are each wonderful no matter what. I also really like the poem called, I know someone. It includes many different kids stating funny things that they can do individually and in the end they say that they can all do those things. This teaches kids that many of the things that they do that they think are very unusual are actually similar to what others can do. A great activity to do with this poem would be to have each student write down something that they think they have in common with all the other students and something they think is very unusual. Then, the teacher could read them off at random and the kids can raise their hands if it applies to them. This can show kids that other students actually have similar interests and abilities that surprise them.