I'm+Here

I’m Here Author and Illustrator: Peter H. Reynolds Ages: 4 and up Pages: 32 Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (August 16, 2011) ISBN: 9781416996491 Hardcover Price: $15.99 Language: English
 * Bibliographical Data**

Peter Hamilton Reynolds was born in 1961 in Canada. He attended the Massachusetts College of Art and Fitchburg State College. During his college career he received numerous awards; Communications Student of The Year Award in 1983, Alumni Recognition Award in 1999 and received the title Litterarum Humanarum Doctor in 2007. Reynolds is best known for writing and illustrating children books about authentic learning, creativity, and self expression. Reynolds has also published a book series for children known as //The Best Kid in the World// and //The Best Kid in the World.// Reynolds has also worked collaboratly with other authors to publish numerous books such as //Judy Moody// series//, The Alley, The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Fudge// series//, Olivia Kidney,// and //Someday.// Reynolds has received many awards from his own published children books and his collaborations including the Oppenheim Platinum Toy Award, Borders Books’ Original Voices Award (2003), the Christopher Medal of Excellence, and New York Times Best Seller. Reynolds has also gone beyond writing children’s book, he has also created award-winning animated short films; //The Blue Shoe, Living Forever,// and //The Dot.// Today Reynolds lives with his family in Dedham, Massachusetts where he works and co-owns his family book store, The Blue Bunny Bookstore.
 * Author Biography**

//I’m Here// focuses on a young school boy who seems to be out casted from the other students during recess. Instead of joining the other kids in sports games and running around he sits away from them, watching from afar. The young boy in this story seems to be okay with being apart, instead of joining in the fun with the other students he comments on the sounds that he hears and the things he feels, like the wind. The wind brings the young boy a piece of paper that the young boy uses to create a paper plane. After folding the paper into a paper plane the young boy sends it off to fly into the wind. The paper plane takes off on a journey away from the young boy, over the students playing at recess, away from earth. The paper planes journey ends when it is caught by another classmate and returned to the young boy. This classmates becomes a friendly face to the young boy.
 * Summary**

I think this short story is an excellent story that I would love to have in my future classroom. I think the message that was portrayed in this story is one that every student should learn and constantly read about. I think the illustrations in this story were very good because of their simplistic nature. Instead of getting caught up in the colorful pictures that some books have this story focused more on the message. The words used in this story were well picked for the specific age group. The sentences were written at an appropriate length according to the age level, short and to the point. I also liked how some words were artistically written/drawn to go along with the illustrations. The author seemed to put more emphasis on some words that others, showing how some words were more important to the story line.
 * Review**

I would use this children’s’ book because of the important themes that this book portrays. This book deals with the issues of a child being alone because they are different and finding friends in unexpected ways. In this book the main character watches other children play at recess from afar, yet he is not upset that he isn’t play with the other students. Instead, he enjoys others aspects of recess like feeling the wind and hearing the different sounds of nature. This story is stating that it is okay to like different things and that being in the crowd is not always what has to be done. This book is stating how every child should enjoy the little things, like the wind and the sounds. This book is always expressing how it is okay for a child to use their imagination. For example, when the wind blows a piece of paper towards the school boy he quickly decides to make a paper plane that can ride the wind. He imagines that he is also riding the wind and is going higher, higher, higher, and higher. By using his imagination to create fun with the paper plane the young boy unexpectedly catches the attention of a classmate when the paper plane lands near her. When the classmate brings back the paper plane she decides to stay and play with the boy. Just doing what the boy enjoyed doing and being who he has he got to enjoy his recess and catch the attention of a new friend at the same time. Every child should read this story to see the importance of doing what you love because even if you might be alone you can still catch the attention of those who like the same things you do.
 * Analysis of Literary Element**