Can I Build Another Me?

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Some kids might point out birthmarks or scars, some of them might talk about trapping their fingers, or about a special piece of jewellery they are wearing, or why they are wearing mehndi at the moment. The time should be given for the children to add detail to their stories, when telling them – time for embellishment and questioning.

Often, the fact that some children are willing to share does prompt other children to be a bit more confident to reflect and share. is one of those so well written and profound picture books that dare to explore big, philosophical concepts in such a hilarious and inventive way, that by the time you finish reading it, notions like existentialism, individuality, selfhood or life experience are already familiar. In telling these stories, what you are needing to do yourself, and what you are encouraging in the kids, is the ability to spin a good yarn – to speak humorously or with pathos, to be able to pre-empt the reactions it might get and to withhold certain information until the very end, to be able to identify the key parts of the ‘plot’ and to tell it appropriately.Distrusting the apple’s convincing appearance, the child’s imagination spirals upwards and outwards into a madcap fantasy world – maybe it’s a star from outer space with tiny aliens on board?

To get what I mean, think about one of your classes: you will have a couple of children in there who can capture the attention of everyone in their class when they are telling even a quite objectively boring and uneventful anecdote, and you will have some children who, even if something truly remarkable has happened to them, haven’t got the capacity to tell it well.Younger classes will enjoy imagining what a robot close of themselves might look, act and feel like, while older children can get philosophical about the factors that have come together to make them who they are, or even about the potential ethics of cloning oneself (I’m sure overly busy teachers may also be tempted to wish for a clone! I leave traces of me”, Kevin admits, thinking of how his parents identify his mess or how his peers recognize his belongings.

Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc. Either way, this is a really fun focal point for classrooms and one that works best if children are given enlarged or close-up access to the illustrations. Philosophy for children this certainly is: I lost count of how many times it opens up space for reflection and discussion.The way I see it, the book is a gentle introduction to introspection – when kids read it and begin to think about how they would programme their own robot, they tiptoe towards a kind of reflection on selfhood that doesn’t come instinctively to them. The book invites readers on a whimsical journey that follows a young boy’s desire to create a robot clone of himself. I chose to go without glasses, but because I couldn’t see properly, I tried to take the wrong kids onto the slide, which was among the most excruciatingly awkward moments of my life.