ALA Booklist (Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 1999)

April can't wait to take the train on Friday to visit Grammie, but it is only Sunday night. Each day of that week, April and her mom run errands, and each day April notices new things: on Monday, a girl on the bus using sign language; on Tuesday, the farmers' market full of fruit in a great variety of colors and shapes, like the people who shop there. April notices a blind woman, a woman in a wheelchair, and a boy sporting a pirate hat. When she finally gets to Grammie's, she sees how the garden next door has roses in straight rows, but Grammie's yard is a riot of flowers. April thinks about the folk she has seen all week, and like the flowers in Grammie's garden, they were all different from one another, and that's what made them so great. The earnest, didactic text is considerably brightened by the engaging illustrations, in which the figures are in full-color acrylics, and backgrounds and landscapes in black-and-white graphite. Samples of braille and the sign language alphabet are included. (Reviewed March 1, 1999)

Horn Book

A young girl starts noticing how people are different from her (they speak in sign language or other languages, read Braille, use a wheelchair, are grown up, are male), but she also sees how, in some way, they're just like her. Objects and backgrounds in the illustrations remain in black and white while the people are in color, complementing the text's focus on individuality. Despite the book's didactic intent, the young narrator's voice is believable and appealing.

Kirkus Reviews

More of a teaching text, Mitchell's story is really a series of observations, ostensibly by a child, about how people differ and how they are the same. The narrator sees children speaking in sign language, which is not how she communicates, but she waves to one, who waves back. She sees a blind woman calling an elevator, and describes its Braille labels, but notes that the woman gets off at her floor, "just like me." A bearded man at a lunch counter orders the same sandwich she does; she meets a woman who likes to draw, as she does. The lesson concludes: "Like the flowers in Grammie's garden, they were all different from one another, and that's what made them so great." The book's practical aspects—the inclusion of the American Sign Language alphabet and a sample strip of Braille'strengthen it; the logical problem weakens it: to assemble racial differences, physical disabilities, food preferences, and artistic proclivities under one banner may confuse children. A well-intentioned work. (Picture book. 4-8)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 3-A sweet dose of bibliotherapy that explores the similarities and differences among people. The story is told from the point of view of a little girl anticipating a visit to her grandmother's house. Every day as she waits, the girl and her mother go on an errand. On each of these trips, the child encounters someone who is different-someone who is either older, speaks another language, has a disability, or is of a different race-but who is doing the same thing she is. Acrylic paints highlight only a few items or people in each of the pen-and-ink illustrations, inviting children to take a closer look while reinforcing the story's point. Tolerance and acceptance are difficult concepts to address for a young audience, and this book does it in a manner that can be applied to a number of situations.-Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY