Just the Way I am – A story about being different

In Just the Way I am, a story about being different, Matko the sheep is wider than all the others and she can’t fit through the gate. Yoga sheep suggests she tries yoga, jogging sheep suggests she jog, and many more sheep suggest helpful ways to change. Matko gets really fit, but she is still wide. What can she do? Is it okay to be wide? Explore why differences are okay.

This story has absolutely beautiful water coloured illustrations and you will fall in love with Matko and her adventures. An amazing picture book about being different, and being okay.

This story was brought to us by Room to Read, a non-profit literacy organisation promoting reading access for Asia and Africa.

 

 

Text from Just the Way I am

A herd of sheep was coming back home in the evening, happy as usual.
Except for Matko. She was too wide to fit through the new farm gate.

She had been sleeping outside for over a week. And now she would have to sleep outside again.

That darn gate!
It wasn’t fair.

The yogi sheep said,
“Do yoga! Yoga will make you thinner. Then you will fit through the gate.”

The next day, Matko started doing yoga.

Many days passed…

But Matko was still too wide to fit through the gate.

The jogger sheep suggested, “Start jogging! Jogging will make you thinner. Then you will fit through the gate.”

So Matko went for a jog every day. Days passed, but she was still too wide for the gate.

The swimmer sheep advised,
“Start swimming! Swimming will make you thinner.
Then you will fit through the gate.”

So Matko began swimming..

But she was still too wide to fit through the gate!

Bunni came by showing off her bicycle.
“Start cycling, Matko. Cycling will make you thinner.
If cycling doesn’t help you fit through the gate, I’ll eat my hat!”

Matko was upset. “Enough now! I just want to go home.”
So she thought.
And she thought,
and she thought some more.

And then she set off.

A few days later, Matko returned.
Now she had a plan. She had…

…TOOLS!

The next morning, Matko woke up in her favorite place.

All the other sheep were astonished.
“But you’re still so wide!” they brayed. “How did you get inside the yard?”

“I simply made the gate a little wider,” Matko replied with a grin.
“I am fit, and I am fine…

just the way I am!”

<End of text from Just the Way I am.>

If you like this book, see more like this in our Differences and Diversity section.

See more books by the same publisher in our Room to Read section.

This book is brought to us in Creative Commons (CC-BY-SA), see all our creative commons books in the Creative Commons section