Same Same

by Marthe Jocelyn, Tom Slaughter (Illustrator)

Forget about differences! Here’s a wonderful new concept book to explore and enjoy!

Marthe Jocelyn and Tom Slaughter team up again to deliver a delightfully simple book. Jocelyn’s marvelous concept — finding common characteristics in different creatures and objects — coupled with Slaughter’s masterful paper cuts makes Same Same a clever introduction to similarities, as well as a preface to modern art.

The duo’s previous titles have received numerous awards worldwide; from Japan to Denmark, from France to Mexico. Fashioned in the traditional and stunning style of the pair’s past books, Same Same is a wonderful addition to their already impressive library.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Canada, Nonfiction, Mathematics, Juvenile

24 pages, Hardcover

First published January 13, 2009

About the author

Canadian born
22 books published for young readers"

Reviews

[babyhippoface · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning to see connections is a vital skill for our children, and this book is a wonderful way to guide and develop that skill. Each two page spread features three items and a word or phrase that tells how the items are the same. The following spread takes one of those items, pairs it with two new items, and creates a new group based on a different trait. A page with an airplane, a bird, and bees says, "things that fly"; the next page shows a bee, a zebra, and a coral snake with the words, "striped things". The illustrations are very simple with big, brightly colored blocks of color, perfectly matching the tone of the book. Every preschool classroom would benefit from the inclusion of this book in their curriculum. Teachers who push their class to find other connections between items, as well as differences, will engage students in active learning, encouraging thinking skills with each reading.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Same Same
by Marthe Jocelyn
Illustrated by Tom Slaughter
Where's the Math? This is a book about attributes - although I read that this book can be intended for very young children (2 years and older),the book can also provide a foundational understanding of attributes for older children. The book also provides simple text that young children can follow as emerging readers. The bright pictures in the book sort a variety of objects and animals based upon a number of attributes. Children who are English language learners could also benefit from the terminology that explains how different things can also be the same (i.e. things that are in water, things with four legs, round things, etc.)

Genre: Concept/Picture Book
Theme/Keywords: Attributes, Same
Features of Print: Pointed paper cuts, bold text
Cultural Considerations: Could be any
Open-ended questions: What did you notice about the things in this book? Can you think of two things in our room that are the same? Are they different too?
Extension Activity: Have children get in a circle on the carpet, and pick out a couple of children to stand in the center of the room - help children identify what is the same about them, and then what is different. Continue on as an activity.

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book because the simple illustrations and words perfectly touch upon the concept of sorting objects by common attributes. It took a couple of times through before they fully understood what was happening because the book uses the same object again and again to sort by different attributes. Why does the bird belong in so many categories? Once they figured it out they really enjoyed creating categories for things. It would be a fun learning activity to have young kids in a group try and figure out what seemingly different toys have in common when placed in groups such as those exemplified in this awesome board book. It's an easy, fun way to grow some brain cells!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant, original, creative. A bee is something that flies... turn the page, and it's something with stripes... on that page is a snake... which is also on the next spread of things that are long. Art is wonderful, too. The cover looks lackluster here, but irl it's actually clean, vibrant, and perfect for preschoolers.

Highly recommended to little ones, educators, and artists of all ages. Would be a great mentor text or inspiration for all sorts of classroom/ homeschool games and activities.

[Tam Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each double page shows 3 things that are the same. Such as "round things". But then on the next double page it keeps one thing from the previous page and makes a new "same things" out of them.

Creative. It's one big circle! I wish the ending would have had the same sort of layout. But I can also see why they changed it. But...still...

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great simple concept book for toddlers. I love the bold, strong images and the fact that there appears to be a purpose for the items chosen to represent each concept, i.e. for things in the air, there is a picture of an airplane, as well as bees and a bird. Excellent!

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My two year old likes this book a lot. It shows groups of similar items then shows how some items within groups are similar to other items in another group ... does that make sense? It is a picture book with only a few simple words.

[Tdavis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great participatory book because it shows a variety of pictures and states what they have in common. Great for dialogic reading!

Early Literacy Skills:

Letter Knowledge
Print Awareness
Print Motivation
Vocabulary

[Kristen Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very simple book. It has a few items on each page that are the same. This book is great fro showing children how lots of different things can be the same while also being very different at teh same time.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 items per page. Last item is linked to next group of 3 items. Round things: apple, world, tambourine. Next, things that make music: tambourine, guitar, bird. Simple concept and brilliant execution. Bold flat colors. Great for very early science/math storytimes on sorting/grouping concepts.

[Takeisha Hannor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good math book that address how things are similiar as well as different colors, sizes, and shapes. This book explains about the different animals and is age appropriate for preschoolers to introduce them to bring print and lots of pictures.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My five-year-old son picked this book out from the library last week. It was a big young for him, but he still enjoyed it.

What a simply delightful book! So bright and vibrant and cleverly done, bringing everything around full-circle -- literally.

[Kalynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book introduces young children to the concept of categorization--which makes it an easy interactive read, since you can quickly scan the room together and ask...what around us is the same, or has the same function/use? :)

[Bobby · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are bright, simple, and bold. I see this concept working for the young toddler audience.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

not sure why i like this one, but i do.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bright illustrations w/contrasting colors would appeal to babies and toddlers. Grouping not-so-same things by their one quality of sameness.

[carissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduces young children (ages 2-5) to set theory and how even though things are different, they are similar.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great basic concept book for kids about things that are alike. The pictures are simple and big but very attractive. Ages Birth +

[Thia]

similarities

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for young toddlers. each concept flows into the following concept.

[Curriculum]

A Concept book about similarities! (refreshing, most are about differences)

[Tina B]

"item grouping, concept book"

[sheba · Rating 5 out of 5]

indio loves the colourful images in marthe jocelyn's books.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literacy skills:

Letter knowledge-I didn't know this before this class, but learning shapes is the foundation for learning your alphabet.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't notice until the second time through how one set of things linked to the next. What a great exercise for kids to try on their own!

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things that are long, things that fly, things that make music, etc.

[Aaron Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comes full circle beautifully.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great picture book showing different things that fly, have legs, etc. Love how the end connects with the beginning.

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about the connection between things that are the same.

[Mario Flores · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe that this book is about teaching commonalities between different things and animals, as it covered things that were similar in shape, color, symmetry and size. I liked reading about a book that makes learning about these similarities both fun and educational. The pictures in the book seemed to be either computerized or appear to be cut-outs from different colored shape paper. I liked how the illustrator made sure to color every inch within each page, making the images appear to be very vivid. I would recommend this book to children in early elementray grades.