Every Child is Special!

Some Wemmicks are given gold, star stickers. Some Wemmicks are given gray, dot stickers. And, some Wemmicks don't have stickers on them at all.

So the story of Punchinello and his "maker" the woodcarver begins. The Wemmicks are small wooden people. They were all made by the woodworker named Eli. Each Wemmick is made differently. Some are beautiful, others are talented, and others do well in school and sports. These Wemmicks receive gold stars from others that stick to their person. They walk around receiving gold stars from each other and from others that assume they deserve the gold stars that they see others have given them.

"The pretty ones, those with smooth wood and fine paint, always got stars."

"But if the wood was rough or the paint chipped, the Wemmicks gave them dots."

Those that got stars felt good about themselves and went on to do other things that would garner them more stars. But the ones that received dots, although they tried, continued to receive dots. They were so nervous that they would make mistakes and get more dots. In fact, Punchinello, who was one of the dotted Wemmicks, had so many dots that sometimes people would come up and give him one for no reason at all.

After a while, Punchinello began to believe that he deserved the dots. "I'm not a good Wemmick," he would say. He even began to quit trying and started to hang out with other Wemmicks who had a lot of dots, too. It made him feel better hanging out with them.

But one day, he met a Wemmick that had no stars OR dots! Her name was Lucia and whenever anyone tried to give her a sticker, they wouldn't stick. Not the stars. Not the dots. Some people looked down on her for having no stickers or dots but Punchinello decided that he wanted to be just like her.

He didn't want ANYONE'S marks on him.

Lucia told him that he could be like her. He needed to go talk to his "maker". Punchinello was scared and it took awhile for his courage to build. The "maker" Eli stated that Punchinello was special to him whether he had special attributes or not, because he had made him.

Did Punchinello become like Lucia? Did he understand that if he trusted the maker's love for him he would begin to care less about the judgement stickers of others?

You will have to read this gentle tale of love and belonging to find the answers. The author, Max Lucado, has written a special tale that can be a lesson for each child. For the religious, Eli is the "master" maker or creator of life, and his love will make each child feel special. For those that are not, Eli can represent a parent or a person that loves us and gives us the confidence to be ourselves and to love ourselves.

This book is a beautiful hard covered text. The illustrations are interesting and creatively done by, Sergio Martinez. It is a great read aloud for any age; but is especially meaningful to kids in 3rd-6th grade. Many of the younger kids will miss some of the subtle themes, such as kids with low self esteem hanging out with other kids that have low self esteem and perhaps even that they are talking about self-esteem and self-confidence. But all will relate to kids that always get stickers in school and those who don't. Adults, teachers and parents, too, can learn from this book about appreciating each child for their individual strengths and weaknesses and to be careful when we had out our gold stars and gray dots.

The story lets us know that once we have self-esteem, the judgement of others won't hurt or bother us. We don't need to rely on others to tell us what or who we are and what we are worth , what really matters is what we think of ourselves.