Simi the Blowfish on Being Different

Book excerpt: Why am I different? Children have to be carefully taught to see difference as a way to be better or lesser than someone else. Prejudice about anything or anyone that is different is driven by a lack of understanding of diversity as a positive thing. We must teach the appreciation of difference as enriching each of us with opportunities to see things in many wonderful ways. Simi is different, but until he realizes he is not like his other friends, he uses difference to make fun or ridicule others. This is a book about the foundational value of the importance of diversity and why we should teach our children early on the importance of seeing difference as a positive thing. Being different doesn’t make us better or lesser; it makes us richly unique and interesting in the tapestry of life.