Same, Same but Different (review)

Elliot lives in the U.S. and Kailash lives in India, and the two boys become pen pals through an art exchange program between their schools. Their illustrated correspondence makes up the bulk of this richly composed picture book, which effectively demonstrates how much the boys share even if the specifics are different. Both boys, for example, love to climb trees, but Elliot's picture features a tree house in the yard, high above a wrought-iron fence, while Kailash's shows him perched on a limb surrounded by monkeys ("My name is Kailash, and I love to climb trees too. Same, same but different!"). Both boys are familiar with traffic, but Elliot's surroundings include taxis, buses and cars while Kailash's streets are filled with elephants, rickshaws, and horse-drawn carts. The penultimate spread shows how familiar each boy has become with the other's world, as it features each child sleeping in a bedroom adorned with the other boy's artwork. Acrylics, crayon, pencil, collage, and tissue paper combine in compositions dense with bright, spicy-sweet hues in detail, pattern, and backgrounds. Elliot and Kailash themselves are always incorporated in the scenes, driving home the point that the views are their interpretations of the worlds they live in. There is considerable usage potential here, from art projects to classroom community projects to diversity awareness projects, possibly paired with Baker's similarly comparative Mirror (BCCB 1/11); there's also plenty of pleasure to be found just in sharing the thoughtful story and perusing the artwork.