One Can

A child donates a can of food to their school food drive. But in an unexpected twist, they come to understand what it means to give and receive.

A child is excited to donate a can of their favorite Zoodelicious to the school food drive. Their teacher has explained that the food will be given to people in need, along with mittens from the “mitten tree.”

In the classroom, there’s a carpet with one hundred squares, and the goal is to fill each square with a can of food. When the child places their can of Zoodelicious on square 100, everyone cheers, and the teacher puts a snowflake sticker on top to celebrate.

But a few days later, the child finds the same can of Zoodelicious among the groceries their mom has brought home. And there’s a pair of red mitts, too. “Mom, are we the people in need?” the child asks.

The next morning, after having thought of all the people who will receive food from the school and wondering what else they might need, the child donates their too-small blue mittens to the mitten tree at school.

Created by an award-winning team, One Can tells a timely and touching story of a child who learns to give and receive—and wants only to give again in return.

Key Text Features

dialogue

illustrations

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.