Think for Yourself (Part 3)

Odd Duck
by Cecil Castellucci
illustrated by Sara Varon
:01 First Second, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

Theodora believes that she will never be friends with her new neighbor, Chad. They are too different in too many ways. When winter comes and neither flies south, they discover that they both love star gazing and also that "...even though they were very different, they felt the same way about most things."

Then one day, they are walking in the town, and they hear someone say, "Look at that odd duck!" They each try to console the other for being called odd, then, realizing that the other thinks they are odd, have a complete falling out...which ends when they admit to themselves, and then to each other, that perhaps they are each a bit odd.

But, "It's not so bad to be odd," Theodora thought, "not when you have an odd friend."

If you dial back balance-a-tea-cup-on-your-head-while-you-swim "odd" and hang-upside-down-from-a-tree-to-grill-out "odd," you can find all the ways we each are different, and you can celebrate both differences and oddnesses! But most of all, THINK FOR YOURSELF -- don't listen to what others say!