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. The illustrations by Carey Sookocheff are rendered in Acrylic gouache and drawing pencil, and express lovely muted greens, blues and yellows. 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. When reading this book, pay attention to the illustrations as the same children pop in and out of the pages. 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. 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. 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. 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. Both the illustrations and text demonstrate each experience simply and succinctly, which leaves a lot of room for thought-provoking discussion.Įach page offers a new situation where the characters can be experiencing two feelings at the same time. A Person Can Be… offers a clever perspective of how everyday activities can have opposing points of view.

A Person Can Be ... by Kerri Kokias