Same-same or Different?

Same-same or Different?

Author: Roopa Pai

Illustrator: Rohit Kelkar

Mamma put Sparrow's
lunchbox into her schoolbag
and folded her wings
around her.
"Have a good day, darling,"
she said. "Pay attention, be
polite..."
"Uff Mamma!" laughed
Sparrow. "You say the same
thing every day!"

2/22

"And remember," said Mamma. "Stay away from Snake - he's
different."
Sparrow wished Mamma hadn't said that. Snake was her best
friend. But Mamma didn't approve of Snake.
"His people eat our people!" she always said. "Sparrows and
snakes can never be friends."

3/22

On the other side of town,
Snake's Pappa was packing
his lunchbox with birds'
eggs.
"Today's special, son!" he
said proudly.
"But I hate eggs, Pappa,"
groaned Snake.

4/22

"We've always eaten them in this family!" said Pappa sternly.
"Now off you go. And remember, stay away from Sparrow!"
Snake slithered away, feeling angry.
"Sparrows are different," Pappa called after him. "You can't be
friends with your food!"

5/22

When Snake met Sparrow at school, they
knew.
"Your Mamma said...?" asked Snake.
Sparrow nodded. "Your Pappa too?" Snake
nodded.
"Our parents are wrong, Sparrow," said
Snake. "Let's show them that we are more
same-same than different."

6/22

"Great idea!" said Sparrow. "Let's!"
She pulled out a sheet of paper and drew two circles on it - like this.

7/22

"In the yellow part of the left circle," said Sparrow, "we put down
'Just Sparrow' things. In the blue part of the right circle, 'Just
Snake' things. These are all ways in which Snake and Sparrow
are DIFFERENT."
Snake was puzzled. "I thought we wanted to think of ways in
which we are SAME!"
"That's what the green part in the middle is for," smiled
Sparrow.

8/22

"First, let's think about how we look," said Sparrow. "Same-same
or different?"
"VERY different," sighed Snake. "I'm long, hairless and thin.
You're small, plump and soft."
“You're right," said Sparrow. "I look like a powder puff," she
drew a powder puff in the yellow crescent, "and you look like a
rope-so-rough." She drew a rope in the blue crescent.

9/22

"Now," she said. "How do
we move?"
"VERY differently," Snake
said, looking even sadder.
"You fly through the air,
flap-flapping. I slither along
the ground, zig-zagging."
"In other words," said
Sparrow. "I move like a
plane, and you move like a
train."

10/22

Snake sighed.
"Cheer up, Snake," said Sparrow briskly. "Let's
see now, what do we eat?"
"VERY different things," Snake's eyes filled
with tears. "But I don't eat birds' eggs."

11/22

"I know," said Sparrow soothingly. But now
she looked glum too.
"Seeds and grass," she muttered, as she drew
them in the yellow crescent.
"Frogs and rats," she sputtered, and drew
them in the blue crescent.

12/22

13/22

"Harrrrrumph!"
Snake and Sparrow jumped. It was Headmaster Elephant.
"Why the long faces, kids?" he asked kindly.
"Oh sir," sobbed Snake. "My Pappa and Sparrow's Mamma say we can't be friends because we are
different."
"We wanted to show them we were more same-same than different, sir," said Sparrow. "But it isn't
working."
Headmaster Elephant looked at the circles a long time. Then he began to laugh.
Snake and Sparrow stared at him. What was so funny?
"Don't you see, kids?" he said finally, wiping his tears. "You are doing this all wrong! Let me help you."

14/22

Headmaster Elephant settled down on a bench.
"Now then, Snake," he said, "what do you like doing best?"
"Playing and chatting, Sir," said Snake. "ESPECIALLY with Sparrow."

15/22

"And you, Sparrow?"

"Chatting and playing, Sir," said Sparrow. "ESPECIALLY with
Snake."

"Right," said Headmaster Elephant, "you like doing the SAME
things."

And he drew something - in the green part.

"Next," said Headmaster Elephant, "what makes you happy,
kids?"

"When Miss lets me sit next to a friend, Sir," Snake began to
smile.

"Same-same, Sir," clapped Sparrow.

16/22

“A-ha!" said Headmaster Elephant. "You both have the SAME
happy place. Green!"

"All right, what makes you sad, Snake and Sparrow?"

"That Pappa says I should stay away from Sparrow, sir," sighed
Snake.

"That Mamma says I should stay away from Snake, sir," sighed
Sparrow.

Headmaster Elephant frowned. "You are both sad," he said, "for
the SAME reason - your parents don't let you choose your
friends. Green again!"

17/22

"Now then," said Headmaster Elephant, "who
do you think is the best kind of friend?"
"Someone who loves you..." began Snake.
"... even though you are different!" finished
Sparrow.
"So you both agree,” said Headmaster
Elephant, "that a true friend loves you no
matter what. That makes FOUR 'same-sames'
and only THREE 'differents'. Same-sames
win!"

18/22

"Hurray!" said Snake and
Sparrow. "Thank you,
Headmaster Elephant!"

"Harrrumph!" said
Headmaster Elephant. "One
last thing..."

"Yes, sir?"

"Tell your parents I want to
see them in my office. First
thing tomorrow morning!"

And Headmaster Elephant
marched away, looking very
fierce indeed.

19/22

20/22

SORT IT OUT!
Sorting and grouping are important skills in mathematics. To
sort things, you have to ask yourself 'logic' questions like:
1. What things are same? What things are different?
2. How are the same things same? How are different things
different?
3. Can the same things be sorted and grouped in more than one
way?

21/22

Think about the many ways in which you can
sort and group these toy animals. You can sort
them:

- According to their colour - blue animals in
one circle, yellow in another.

- According to their size - small animals in one
circle, big ones in another.

- According to how they move - animals that
walk and animals that fly.

Would the groups be different each time? Try
it and see!

22/22

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative
Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories ‐​
provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about
this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link.

Story Attribution:
This story: Same-same or Different? is written by Roopa Pai . © Pratham Books , 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Other Credits:
This book was first published on StoryWeaver by Pratham Books. The development of this book has been supported by Oracle. Guest Editor: Roopa Pai, Art
Director: Kaveri Gopalakrishnan

Images Attributions:
Cover page: A snake and a sparrow drawing and colouring together, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY
4.0 license. Page 2: Mother and baby sparrow, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 3: A
sparrow, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 4: An adult snake offering eggs to a young
snake , by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 5: Worried snake, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham
Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 6: A snake and a sparrow in conversation, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books,
2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 7: Drawing circles , by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved.
Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 8: Crayons, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 9:
Semi-circles, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 10: A sparrow writing and a snake
watching , by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 11: A sad snake, by Rohit Kelkar ©
Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions The development of this book has been supported by
Oracle.
Some rights reserved. This book is CC-​ BY​-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify,
distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking
permission. For full terms of use and attribution,
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative
Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories ‐​
provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about
this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link.

Images Attributions:
Page 12: A worried sparrow, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 13: Circles with tiny
drawings , by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 15: An elephant, a sparrow and a snake on
a bench, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 16: A snake and a sparrow playing, by Rohit
Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 17: Bird and snake, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017.
Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 18: Sparrow and Snake as friends, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights
reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 19: A sparrow and a snake hugging each other, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights
reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 20: Patterns of similarity and dissimilarity, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved.
Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 21: Crayon box, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.
Page 22: Toy animals, by Rohit Kelkar © Pratham Books, 2017. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions The development of this book has been supported by
Oracle.
Some rights reserved. This book is CC​-BY-​ 4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify,
distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking
permission. For full terms of use and attribution,
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Same-same or Different? Can you only be friends with people who are exactly like you? Is it
wrong to be best friends with someone who is different? SORT OUT
(English) the answers to these questions with Snake and Sparrow in this
heartwarming story about friendship.

This is a Level 3 book for children who are ready to read on their own.

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