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I Am was written by Kate Forsyth in response to the dearth of children’s books written in the first person. ‘When my won Tim was four he-like many other children his age-had trouble remembering pronouns,’ she writes in an author’s note. ‘He would say-Me like Blue!- and--Her going too?..’When a speech pathologist suggested books written in the first person a less than successful search inspired I Am, originally written just for Tim. The text is suitably simple and-given that it describes a real boy-no doubt an accurate description of the world of many young boys who, at ‘four and three-quarters’ are not yet at school but are ‘exploring the world.’ In Tim’s case this exploration includes climbing on rocks, swinging through trees, swimming in the sea and jumping in puddles. The inclusion of a baby sister introduces ‘she’, ‘her’ and ‘we’. Speech pathologist Robynann Williams suggests parents use many different ‘I’ phrases while looking at the detail in the illustrations and Rosalie Street’s pictures certainly provide scope for these in Tim’s many toys, his ‘hippo’ umbrella or the animal shapes he can see in the clouds. But warned, as well as a big blue teddy bear, Tim’s constant companion is his sword, which may leave young swordless readers slightly jealous!

Matthia Dempsey is deputy editor of Bookseller+Publisher

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

Tags: kate forsyth & rosie street