Triptych: Be happy with who you are

The three books that I chose for my triptych are Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig, The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns, and, The Mixed Up Chameleon by Eric Carle. The common underlying theme in these three books is to be your self. These three books take animals and shapes and create personal characters that children can relate too. In all three books, the main character tries to change who he is and eventually realizes he likes himself just the way he was. All these books are illustrated in bright colors and pictures. They are all geared toward elementary school. They help children with self identity.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Written and Illustrated by: William Steig
Sylvester and the Magic pebble is a story about a donkey who finds a pebble in the woods that is small and red. It is different from many other pebbles that he has seen. He soon realizes that this is a magic pebble that he can wish with. He wishes the rain would stop and it did, he wished the rain would start up again, and it did. Once when he was frightened, he wished that he was a no longer a donkey, but wished he would turn into a rock. His wished worked and he was a rock. The problem was he once he was a rock, he could not turn himself back to a donkey. Sylvester was missing for over a month until finally his parents found the pebble and wished for him to come back. Once Sylvester was a donkey again, he learned that he should have never made that wish and changed who he was. This story uses an animal to portray human emotions and feelings. It takes bold colors and creates an engaging story for elementary school children.

The Greedy Triangle
Written by: Marilyn Burns
Illustrated by: Gordon Silveria
This story is about a Triangle who gets bored with being a triangle. He felt that there must be more to life. With this, he decides to go to the shape shifter, who could turn him into a square. Triangle enjoyed being a square for a while, but soon become bored again and wanted to be a quadrilateral. This pattern kept continuing until eventually Triangle realizes how much he enjoyed being himself, a triangle. This story does a good job of taking shapes and turning them into personal characters that children can relate too. This story uses bold colors to attract children’s attentions.

The Mixed Up Chameleon
Written and Illustrated by: Eric Carle
The mixed up chameleon is a story for young elementary students that deals with self identity. It focuses on a chameleon who realizes it can not only change colors with its surrounding, but can change into animals in the zoo. When it realizes it can do that, it goes crazy and changes into all of the animals slowly but surely. He soon realizes that nobody can tell what he is and he doesn’t like being that way. He finally goes back to just being a chameleon and learns that he is a lot happier that way. This story also takes an animal and brings human emotional to this character to help children learn about self identity.