I Am I

In this clever tale, Fitzpatrick's (Lizzy and Skunk) two protagonists put to the test the childhood mantra of sticks and stones. As the story opens, a blue-haired boy in a barren, almost prehistoric-looking landscape asserts his place at the center of the universe (""I Am I, King of everything!) while another equally assertive boy with red hair counters (""I am I, King of all I see!""). The two argue their respective worth, using their surroundings to up the ante (e.g., ""My mountain is biggest""). Fitzpatrick draws upon a cultural river symbol that not only illustrates the boys' apparent separation, but ultimately drowns out their argumentative words. As the river gains strength, it washes the text off the page, the letters tumbling into the air. When the two spew new words of hate and venom, the water, along with their argument, spirals out of control and transforms into a fire-breathing dragon. A series of mini-boxes over several pages zero in on the protagonists, reducing the magnitude of their language and the boys themselves (""I am I and I feel very, very small""). Thanks to a cleansing rainstorm, water begins to flow once again, restoring fertility to the land and hope to the boys. A closing modern-day scene of the two children separated by their play space indicates the timelessness of the story's message: that humans must aspire to cross the universal divide in order to appreciate one another's differences. Ages 4-7.