Pistes d'exploration

Read the title. How are Audrey and “Oddrey” similar and different? What predictions can you make about the protagonist based on her name?

Examine the details in the illustrations. Describe some of the ways Oddrey acts differently from her peers.

How does Oddrey “make the best of any situation”? Make text-to-self connections about coping with difficult experiences.

Reflect on a time when you felt lonely. Did anyone help you? How could someone have helped you? Make posters about recognizing others’ loneliness and doing something about it.

Read the title. How are Audrey and “Oddrey” similar and different? What predictions can you make about the main character based on her name?

Browse through the illustrations. Discuss how Oddrey and her peers have similar and different activities, interests and attitudes. Discuss facial expressions and the use of greys and colours.

As the text is read aloud, gather expressions about being unique.

Create a class or school tree. On the trunk, write how you and your schoolmates are similar; on the branches, note how your classmates are similar to each other; on the leaves, note how you are unique. Choose an expression from the list to write about yourself.

Exclamation Mark, The Day the Crayons Quit, It's Okay to Be Different, One

Mots-clés

Picture book , acceptance , creativity , differences , individuality , loneliness , school plays

Commentaire descriptif

Oddrey is a charming young girl who lives up to her name. She thinks outside the box, dances to the beat of her own drum and sees the world in Technicolor. But not fitting in is sometimes lonely. We see and experience the world through Oddrey’s point of view. When all the children are drawn in greys and blues on a rainy day, Oddrey, with her candy cane socks and toothy grin, is in vivid colour, swinging off a streetlamp and acting out her own version of a Gene Kelly song and dance number. Drawn in cartoon style, using vibrant watercolour and ink, the strong facial expressions and lightning quick actions leap off the page. The language is conversational and direct with snappy dialogue and comic turns of phrase: “Her dog, Ernie, said, ‘Meow.’ (Even Oddrey’s dog liked to stand out from the crowd.)” The succinct, straightforward text offsets the caricatured imagery. Fortunately, Oddrey’s creative thinking saves the school play from disaster, and now her peers all want to be like her – an individual. This is a fun fable about thinking for oneself that affirms it is OK to be different.