Different Just Like Me

Written & Illustrated by: Lori Mitchell I’m glad everyone is different . . . just like me! Young April is excited about visiting Grammie, but she has a whole week before she can go. The week goes by quickly, however, as April encounters new and diverse people while she runs errands with her mother. A little girl who talks with her hands, a woman who reads with her fingers, a grown-up who draws pictures for a living, and so many others fascinate her. April wonders why and how these people are different from her and learns how they are also very much alike. This celebration of a world of difference is sure to make every reader appreciate the distinctive qualities in themselves and everyone around them. For additional resources, visit Lori Mitchell's website, including Help 4 Kids with tips on helping kids when they feel different. Find downloadable activities by Lori Mitchell. If you like this book, you’ll enjoy these: Hats Off to Hair Sweet Magnolia [TABS] Look Inside Author & Illustrator Lori Mitchell, author & illustrator Lori Mitchell has worked as a freelance designer, illustrator, and teacher ever since graduating with honors from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Her inspiration for writing Different Just Like Me is her own daughter, April, who has vitiligo, a loss of pigment that presents itself as white spots all over the skin. Read more about Lori. Awards & Honors ABA's Kids' Pick of the Lists Read, America! Collection Early Childhood News Directors' Choice Award San Diego Book Awards, Children's Picture Book Editorial Reviews Booklist April can't wait to take the train on Friday to visit Grammie, but it is only Sunday night. Each day of that week, April and her mom run errands, and each day April notices new things: on Monday, a girl on the bus using sign language; on Tuesday, the farmers' market full of fruit in a great variety of colors and shapes, like the people who shop there. April notices a blind woman, a woman in a wheelchair, and a boy sporting a pirate hat. When she finally gets to Grammie's, she sees how the garden next door has roses in straight rows, but Grammie's yard is a riot of flowers. April thinks about the folk she has seen all week, and "like the flowers in Grammie's garden, they were all different from one another, and that's what made them so great." The earnest, didactic text is considerably brightened by the engaging illustrations, in which the figures are in full-color acrylics, and backgrounds and landscapes in black-and-white graphite. Samples of braille and the sign language alphabet are included. School Library Journal A sweet dose of bibliotherapy that explores the similarities and differences among people. The story is told from the point of view of a little girl anticipating a visit to her grandmother's house. Every day as she waits, the girl and her mother go on an errand. On each of these trips, the child encounters someone who is different—someone who is either older, speaks another language, has a disability, or is doing the same thing she is. Acrylic paints highlight only a few items or people in each of the pen-and-ink illustrations, inviting children to take a closer look while reinforcing the story's point. Tolerance and acceptance are difficult concepts to address for a young audience, and this book does it in a manner that can be applied to a number of situations. Downloadables Download the Cover Details Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57091-490-4 E-book PDF ISBN: 978-1-60734-220-5 Ages: 5-8 Page count: 32 10 x 8 [/TABS]