The Only One Club by Jane Naliboff

★★

I saw this book recommended as a way to help support covid-cautious kids who continue to wear masks in mask-optional settings, like school. Peer pressure is real, and being the only person in a classroom wearing a mask can be isolating and intimidating.

I really, really wanted to like this book. Growing up in the 1980s, I remember the discomfort and embarrassment of being the only Asian person in my class, the only kid who wore glasses, even the only student in my class who was a member of the Brownies! Young me absolutely would have benefited from the way this book takes being "the only one" of something and turns it on its head as something to be PROUD of. When the main character, Jennifer, realized she was the only Jewish kid in her class, she immediately delighted in being "the only one" and wanted to celebrate it. That premise is fantastic! I just wish the implementation could have been better.

Right off the bat, the book felt dated. Mrs. Matthews, the teacher, had the whole class making Christmas decorations. Back in the '80s, this type of classroom activity was commonplace. Maybe it was still happening here and there in 2004, when this book was first published. But definitely in 2022, when I read this book, a teacher presumably in a public school centering a Christian holiday in the classroom just didn't feel right.

I do love how Jennifer did not for a second feel embarrassed about being the only Jewish kid in her class. Being Jewish was something that could potentially put Jennifer on the receiving end of hateful words and deeds, and being the only one made her particularly vulnerable because she had no obvious or automatic allies. For her to take pride in something that could be used as fodder for taunts or other inappropriate behavior directed towards her is what made Jennifer's attitude and actions particularly brave, meaningful, and mature.

It was strange, then, when her classmates joined The Only One Club for things like: having a last name that is also the name of a bird, having a pet iguana, and being able to jump Double Dutch. These are not the type of differences that would normally cause chidren to feel like they don't belong, as being a different race or religion, or being the sole mask-wearer, would. Moreover, some of the reasons didn't even make sense! TWO twin girls joined by being "the only one(s?)" who were twins?! And then the teacher joined because she was "the only one" who wasn't already in the club, thereby negating her reason for joining as soon as she joined!

According to the illustrations, Jennifer's class was wonderfully culturally diverse. Alongside some of the superficial differences, it would have been easy to include more substantial differences, e.g., one kid could have been the only one who was Chinese, another could have been the only one who spoke Spanish, this kid could have been the only one with glasses, or a wheelchair, and that kid could have been the only one with asthma, or a food allergy.

Speaking of food allergies, the exchange between Jennifer and Jonah during lunch nearly gave me a conniption! With a "mouth full of peanut butter", "Jonah gave her a raspberry, spraying peanut butter all over the lunch table"!!!!! The illustration literally had food particles on a trajectory to land on Jennifer's food! What if Jennifer was allergic to peanuts!? What if the next kid to sit at that table was allergic!?

Anyway. This book might be a good option for its Hanukkah theme, but as a book about inclusion, I feel it doesn't quite get across the idea that inclusion needs to extend to attributes that may make individuals feel out of place because they are atypical compared to a widely accepted norm.