Dear Mem Fox, March 6 , 2008

Hello! My name is Kimberly Cramer. I am a college student at Penn State Altoona. It is located in the United States, in Pennsylvania. I am studying to become an Elementary Education teacher. We had a project to do in my Language and Literature class. In this project we were able to make an award for children's literature. Then, the rest of the students in the class nominated books for my award. I was given 9 books to chose a winner of my award from. This book allowed us to explore many different children's book. Your book "Whoever you are" was nominated to win my award, and sure enough it has.
I would like to show the criteria for my award, that way you know exactly why I chose your book. The follow excerpt is what my fellow students were given in order to nominate books for my award.
"The Kimberly Cramer Award for Celebrating Multiculturalism and Common Humanity is to be given to a book that not only celebrates the differences across cultures, but also portrays the likeness of the human species as a whole. This idea is pulled from Judith Heide Gilliland's article, 'Living in Sami's and Ahmed's Worlds: Picture books explore Children's Lives in other countries'. This article can be found in Susan Lehr's book "Battling Dragons", on pages 105-112. Gilliand says that 'today's best books celebrate not only those wonderful differences, but also our sameness, our common humanity' (105). The book that you will nominate must be a picture book and be written for children ages 5-9. The book should not have stereotypes of any one group; rather, it should celebrate the differences and the similarities of the many groups. The book should promote tolerance, as well as give the child insight to his/her own life."
I decided to choose your book because I felt that it embraced all of my ideas. I wanted my book to show the differences and similarities of cultures. You did this in your book by show their differences visually and showing their similarities through emotion. I believe that any child from any culture could pick this book and be able to understand the meaning you are trying to convey. In this sense, I strongly believe that your book would appeal to the aesthetic reader. I like this idea because it shows children that no matter what they believe, no matter what they look like, and no matter how they speak; they all have something in common.
I hope that you are delighted to receive this award. I enjoyed reading your book and will be sure to buy this book to have in my collection for my own classroom someday. Have a wonderful day, and CONGRATULATIONS!

Sincerely,
Kimberly Cramer

The Kimberly Cramer Award for Celebrating Multiculturalism and Common Humanity is to be given to a book that not only celebrates the differences across cultures, but also portrays the likeness of the human species as a whole. This idea is pulled from Judith Heide Gilliland's article, "Living in Sami's and Ahmed's Worlds: Picture books explore Children's Lives in other countries". This article can be found in Susan Lehr's book "Battling Dragons", on pages 105-112. Giilliand says that "today's best books celebrate not only those wonderful differences, but also our sameness, our common humanity" (105). The book that you will nominate must be a picture book and be written for children ages 5-9. The book should not have stereotypes of any one group; rather, it should celebrate the differences and the similarities of the many groups. The book should promote tolerance, as well as give the child insight to his/her own life. The nominations are due by February 19th, 2008.