It Came From Outer Space

Title: It Came From Outer Space
Author: Tony Bradman
Illustrated: Carol Wright
Published: Dial Books for Young Readers, New York
Date: 1992
Summary; A visitor from outer space visits an elementary school class and brings an important message about physical beauty.
Age Level: Primary (Kindergarten to 2)
Strengths: I like how you can't see the faces of anyone in the story until the second to last page when the teachre took a picture of the "alien" and her classmates. You don't really think about it, and you just assume that the class were humans, because they had hair, hands and wore class uniforms just like humans. What also surprised me was the spaceship that the "alien" came on because it is like a ship humans would descrie as a UFO. I think it has a good message about judging people by their looks. At the beginning, the students were afraid and terrified by the "monster" because he looked ugly, but once they got to know him, they realized that he was a very nice "monster" People percieves others in different ways, but this story shows us to look beyond appearance and see the personalities of others because everyone is different and unique.
Concerns: Though I liked how the illustrator did not reveal all of the character's faces at the end, I'm wondering why she wanted the alien students to have human like hand, hair and uniforms? I don't know if aliens would ever really wear human clothes. These features may confuse younger students if they do not know what a regular alien looks like.
Comments: I think this would be great for a Bully Lesson and teaching students not to pick on anyone becuase of their looks and what they do. It's who they are that counts.