I AM JOSEPHINE

Exuberant Josephine catalogs her place in the world, painting each example on an easel.

Human, mammal, animal, living thing—Josephine has a variety of identities, but she’s also unique. The pattern of this simple classification exercise is regular. Josephine labels herself as part of a group, adds other organisms that fit into the category, and then asks readers to count the similar organisms shown on a spread. The special appeal lies in the illustrative details. The creatures are simply shaped but clearly identifiable. Lookers and listeners will enjoy brown-skinned Josephine’s many moods and her activities, from cartwheeling to struggling to brush her curly hair to snorkeling, skating, and leading a parade. Josephine paints from jars of rose, blue-greens, and grey-browns; her illustrator adds smoky yellows and orange to give the whole design a cheery, greeting-card feel. A cityscape shows a wide variety of people engaged in interesting activities. Later pages lend themselves to identification games. Humans from all over the world are shown (but not labeled) in typical activities. Animals range from jellyfish to whales, and living things include vignettes of animals and plants together. Adults may puzzle over the appearance of a worm on a page of mammals; perhaps it makes the mole’s tunnel easier to understand.

A charmingly simple way to help children see how they fit into the world around them.