One summer, a little girl lived on one side of a fence. Her mother told her that she could never climb over that fence when she went out and played, because it wasn't safe. That same summer another little girl would climb up on that same fence and stare out over the other side. Sometimes the first little girl would stare back. The first little girl would keep playing with her friends on her own side of the fence. When the second little girl asked if she could play, too, one of the first little girls' friends said "no". The first little girl would watch the second little girl play in puddles from her window. One day, the little girls meet at the fence. They decide to sit on the fence together. The first little girl doesn't get in trouble. After all, she didn't climb over the fence. She just sat on the fence. What happens when both little girls sit on the fence? Find out for yourself by reading "The Other Side," by Jacqueline Woods.
This was a great book for teaching acceptance, not that we really need to teach it to the youngest. I think they are born with color blindness, as it should be. Unfortunately, many of them grow up to learn to stick to their own. How unfortunate that can be. We steal from ourselves by sticking to ourselves all of the time. There is so much we can gain from learning from others so unlike ourselves...or are they? The Other Side, by Jacqueline Woodson