Along Came a Different

Along Came A Different is a brilliant story about friendships and how to make them. The story begins with the reds, they only play with the other reds because anything red is the best thing ever! The yellows only play the yellows because they only like yellow. The yellows don't like the reds because red music was too loud and red apples are too round! So, the red and yellows end up fighting. Then, along came a different and it was blue that would only play with other blues. The blues, reds and yellows all disliked each other, they fought, and things got worse and worse. They tried to make it better and that only worked for a little while. But then came ANOTHER different and another and another. Until a very, very different arrived, the multi-coloured star. He liked red and yellow and blue and then suddenly everyone realised that being different was okay and they all started to like each other. I think this story is absolutely brilliant! I think it would be used effectively in schools, with classes, small groups or even individuals. The story is simple to follow for children, for all ages, sparks lots of insightful questions and makes children think about friendships and how others might feel to not be included. Through the use of shapes and colour rather than people, the story isn't explicitly about children so it could be for anyone, of any age! I would thoroughly recommend this to other teachers, SENCOs and even parents that have children/classes with friendship issues. Other titles on this theme include Mixed (Arree Chung) and All Are Welcome (Alexandra Penfold, Suzanne Kaufman) Picture Book/ Ages 5+ / Reviewed by Lauren Maidman, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 5+