I Am Not a Copycat! - Hardcover

Bonwill, Ann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 144248053X ISBN 13: 9781442480537

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013

Synopsis

Hugo Hippo and Bella Bird are best buddies—but that doesn’t mean they have to be exactly the same. Does it?

Hugo is feeling pretty unique. Bella wants to be unique, too—she wants to be unique exactly like Hugo! Hmmm. Maybe Bella doesn’t quite get “unique.” And how can Hugo be unique if Bella is copying everything he does?

Hugo and Bella find themselves in friendly face-off in this cheerful follow-up to I Don’t Want to Be a Pea, which Kirkus Reviews called a “charming story of compromise.” And whether you’ve been the copycat or the copycatted, you’ll identify with the simpatico pair’s search for distinction.

About this title

About the Author:

Ann Bonwill grew up in Maryland, surrounded by books. She started writing stories as soon as she could hold a crayon. The author of I Don’t Want to Be a Pea and I Am Not a Copycat!, Ann has lived in many places, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Frankfurt, Germany. She now lives in Virginia with her husband, young son, and a crazy Welsh corgi dog named Arthur.

Simon Rickerty wrote and illustrated Crayon and The Peanut, and he also illustrated I Don’t Want to Be a Pea and I Am Not a Copycat! He has a degree in art and design from the London College of Communication and earned a master’s degree in illustration at the Royal College of Art. He lives in rural Bedfordshire, UK.

From Booklist:

Bonwill works the benefits of both cooperation and individuality into this second outing for Hugo the hippo and his tiny buddy, Bella the bird. Attempting to affirm his unique talents while getting ready for a water ballet, Hugo becomes increasingly irritated as Bella—complimenting and agreeing with him all the while—imitates his every move. No sooner does he accuse her of being a copycat (“I am not a copycat. I am a bird”) than onlookers rush up to proclaim the two “amazing synchronized swimmers!” This prompts a celebratory visit to the ice-cream parlor, where both order the same dish—and then Bella changes hers, “to be unique!” Just as the all-dialogue story line resembles one of Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie relationship dramas, the animals in Rickerty’s big, simple illustrations are drawn in broad, expressive strokes and placed against minimally detailed backgrounds. An emotionally nuanced and funny illustration of imitation being a form of flattery. Grades K-2. --John Peters

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 144248053X
• ISBN 13: 9781442480537
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Rickerty Simon