The Other Side of the Story

Can two people tell the truth and still disagree about what happened? The Other Side of the Story helps children ages 7 to 11 see that where you stand changes what you see, and that the full story often needs more than one person. Something happens on the basketball court at recess. Noah is on the ground, Jaylen is standing over him, and by the time Mira gets back to class everyone is talking about “the fight.” Her friends Olivia and Ravi were both right there, and they are both honest. Olivia says Jaylen shoved Noah for no reason. Ravi says Noah started it. Mira cannot believe either of them would lie, so she does what a good detective does: she asks each of them where they were standing and what they could see and hear from there. Olivia was behind Noah and never heard what he said. Ravi was on the court and heard everything. Neither story is wrong; each is a piece. When Mira brings them to Principal Gomez together, Olivia hears the part she missed, Ravi understands why her version sounded so different, and the principal finally gets the whole picture. The book closes with Mira’s Insight, a one-sentence takeaway in her own voice, and a Thinking Prompt that asks readers to think about a time they heard two versions of the same event. This is Book 2 of The Other Side, a seven-book series that follows eleven-year-old Mira as she learns to listen, question her assumptions, and discover the stories she could not see at first. Each book stands alone and ends with its own insight and prompt, which makes the series easy to use for read-alouds, morning meetings, and classroom discussions about perspective, fairness, and empathy. The story runs 24 pages with five full-page illustrations. The Other Side was written by Ellie Kim, a high school senior who built the series from the lessons she teaches in her library debate program for younger students, and illustrated by Cara Ko, a high school senior studying visual art. Read more