Our oldest daughter has always been a compassionate one. So when at the age of three she fell in love with the story of a little girl named Velvet who was a bit of an outcast, I wasn't surprised.

And it's funny, because as smart as our daughter is, I don't think that intellectually she understood exactly what was happening in the story of Odd Velvet. Even so, she loved that girl (brilliantly illustrated by Tara Calahan King) with the red hair, giant head, even bigger glasses, and tiny eyes spaced so far apart she might be confused for a chameleon. Our sensitive, spirited little girl connected with Velvet, the new girl who was more than just new. She was different.

Every night (for God knows how long--because you know how it is with kids) Odd Velvet was the bedtime fare at our home. No exceptions.

Mary E. Whitcomb's first picture book begins with Velvet's first day in school. All the kids arrive with lots of lovely sucking-up-to-the-teacher gifts like heart-shaped boxes of potpourri, and lace handkerchiefs. Velvet, a quiet free spirit offers up seven rocks, her favorite red shoelaces and half a sparrow's egg.

Lunchtime brought more "atrocities" as the children watched Velvet produce her lunch--carrots and a butter sandwich--from gasp! a used brown paper bag! Apparently, Velvet is a vegetarian and ecologically minded... And with each of Velvet's idiosyncrasies; her hand-me-down clothes, her freckles, the milkweed pod she brings in for Show and Tell, the puny box of eight crayons...all suggest oodles of weirdness. No. Not weirdness…oddness. The kids will tell you.

Velvet was odd.

And odd, well, is just not good. Because even though the kids were polite to her, they certainly were not about to walk home with her. Heavens, no. Or pick her to play any games with them. It seems that being friends with Velvet, who was clearly different, would clearly make you different.

And different is not good.

One day the kids, who are all calling each other by their nicknames, ask Velvet what her nickname is. You would not be surprised to find out that she does not have one. But she did share with her classmates that her dad told her the day she was born "the sun was just rising over the mountains, and outside it looked as though the world had been covered with a blanket of smooth, soft, lavender velvet."

What an odd image it created in her classmates' minds. Odd, but beautiful.

Of course, like in the real world, there is always one kid who is just too fabulous for words. The self-appointed arbiter of cool and right in class with the best of everything. Yup, she's the kid with the biggest set of colored pencils and best markers. In Velvet's world it's Sarah Garvey. Yeah, there is a Sarah Garvey in everyone's childhood. You remember her. Or him…

As all the children waited for Sarah to be awarded the prize for her skills in the big drawing contest, Velvet's name was called. With her eight crayons she managed to draw "the most beautiful apple the children had ever seen."

And oddly, the kids were amazed...

Velvet continued to fascinate her classmates with strange and wondrous things that on the surface seemed peculiar but plain. But when she invited her schoolmates to a birthday party at her tiny house at the end of the road, well, no one was really sure if they wanted to go.

What was it going to be like? Sarah thought it would be old and dark. Certainly it would be different. Probably a bit creepy. And certainly it was. No jungle gym, no tether ball in the yard. Just an old tree with a tall swing.

Suffice it to say, the kids all show up and Velvet's birthday party is jammin'! Even without the requisite party entertainment of clowns and such, the kids use their imagination and create an amazing world of castles, moats and crowns. They played card games and had a great time. And by the time they left, each one of them could draw a beautiful apple.

And when the last day of school rolled around, oddly enough, the students gave the teacher gifts of homemade cards and beautiful rocks.

From reading the short bio on the dust jacket, Mary Whitcomb's story comes from what she knows. The part-time school teacher collects rocks, fossils and shells like her heroine. Tara Calahan King's illustrations to this sweet story are a superb example of how important images are to helping a children's book tell its tale. Velvet is a wacky looking girl, but all the people in her world seem a bit oddly proportioned and Picasso-esque. They are whimsical and slightly cartoonish. For both women this is their first children's picture book. Quite an auspicious start in my opinion. As far as a book children can read on their own, Odd Velvet is probably a second grade reading level.

Our daughter, now moments from turning five, loves to read and be read to. When a story clicks with her, it makes an impression. At night, when she was three she would get tucked in, have her sippy-cup of water beside her bed and recite the entire book verbatim as we read it to her. Don't you dare miss a word or a page. She would fill in the blanks when ever we would stop.

At three-years-old the idea of being an outsider was quite an abstract concept. Now an old-soul four-and-eleven-twelfths, she understands what that's all about. I don't know if our nightly readings of Odd Velvet have anything to do with it, or maybe we just raised her right. But our daughter is the first to invite a shy, isolated or new kid in the park to come play with her. She is a nurturer, and I can't help but believe this story, which we still read on a pretty regular basis, has just a bit to do with that.

I can see this not only being a lesson for kids to begin to understand that they should not judge their peers, but also how to feel empowered in their own uniqueness. We often use Velvet's story to help our daughter on both ends of the spectrum. On the days she forgets to be compassionate and thoughtful and goes along with the crowd, and the times she feels bad because she is teased for being different in some way. What's so nice is that no matter how weird the other kids think Velvet is, she never seems to notice. She never holds a grudge. She just continues about her business, seeing life for all the wonderful things it has to offer.


This is really a sweet book and I have to admit, I got a little lump in my throat the first time I read it to my little one. Yeah, yeah. I'm a big softy. Shut up. But I figure if the story of a wacky looking girl with a penchant for collecting volcanic rock and making moats with her blanket can get to me, then my wife and friends have been right all along.

I too am a little odd.



In support of The National Center for Family Literacy's first annual National Bedtime Story Month this submission is part of the National Bedtime Story Month writeoff hosted by Phineaskc and Angelabar. Are you reading to your kids? C'mon!! You should be reading with them every night! Check out all the great books you may be missing for your favorite bedtime story person. Please take some time to read the submissions of the other participants listed below:

Angela9049, Angelabar, Bpotter1, Caines, Cbgresh, Chrisceb, CJsmommy, ColleenMF, CyndiCM, Dandj, DarkMistress, Daxman, Debbie26, Dr. Steph, Ed_grover, Gina Hill, Hawgwyld, Hhassell99, Jankp, Jenninca, Jo.com, Jodycw, KateTPZ, KC8988, KCFemme, KMINER, Lisa_J, Lisalexx, Magenta321, Melkinwa, Merlot, Mimi369, Mom2Daniel, Mom2TyZick, NWinston, Phineaskc, ProEditor, Redlass, Robinmichele, Rosieroon, Sherrylee, Staceys1, Tchoate, Wardukeky, Willetfk

or vist this URL:
http://www.pronetisp.net/~anjuliz/bookwriteoff.html
to find each contributor and their submission quickly. Enjoy.



Recommended: Yes