I'm Different, So What?! is an moral tale about a dog who is excluded at the dog park. While more of a heavy-handed lesson in coping with bullying than a story, I found the content valueable. While this book is written at a 7-10 year-old reading level, the struggle of the main character transcends age.

My favorite lesson was the first tip at the every end of the book that the people we play with at school during recess are not necessarily our friends. Proximity does not equate to friendship. As an adult, it is pretty easy to grow comfortable with my colleagues, and I always have to reminds myself that they are not friends, but simply companions to pass my workday with.

The illustrations of this book were excuted in a simple, painted style. While I liked how the story used the many unique traits of dog breeds to emphasize how everyone is different, I found the illustrations underwhelming and dull, lacking originality.

Lastly, it should be noted this book is excellent for a classroom. At the end, there are quizes and activities like crosswords and codes that relate back to the story. I especially recommend this book to substitute teachers for a one-day lifeskills lesson to occupy a couple hours of classroom time.

Hmmm… A book clearly trying to drum out bullying – because those have worked in the past, haven't they? Here, Ace tries out the dog park in his new neighbourhood, only to get instant rejection from a trio of prejudiced mutts already there. You want him to do well, of course, so the second day you're OK with seeing him go back – only for a fifth dog to step in and issue reminders to the trio and sort everything out. It's only at the very end we see this character bow out and allow Ace to have the agency he needs in the situation, which is done very well, admittedly – before then the story isn't exactly giving Ace that much time, respect and ability.

After the short tale we get a lot of pages devoted to lessons about bullying for kids and adults alike, and no end of educational matter – a huge quiz about the story, and mazes and suchlike. Printable positivity in the shape of bookmarks close things out – which raises further questions of why I could see those on my digital review copy and not the visuals of the story? Still, if the images were of a quality with the fiction I can't say I'd have loved them – this is too blunt, too obvious, with the dogs just too brazenly biased against Ace, and a caterpillar (don't ask) too knowing. And a cleverer story still gives Ace more to do to sort the situation out, however impressive his final beats are. In a world of such books, you can't be biased against this one, but it's not easy to admire it much, either.

It seemed like a book aimed at toddlers and very young kids at first, but the reading comprehension questions at the back, seemed to focus on slightly older, like up to beginning of middle school aged children. The moral and content is nothing new or original, but still important for kids to reread. It was well written for what it is.

This book is actually *incredibly* useful, educational, and realistic! Right off the bat, one of the things that I really appreciated is this book doesn't tell kids to automatically forgive bullies. Rather, this book encourages kids to take time to forgive bullies, or to not hang out with them at all. Not word-for-word, this book says: "not everyone is going to be your best friend, and that's ok". This is absolutely amazing because people often tell kids to reconcile and be merry. This is especially common in school systems, even thought it's highly unrealistic and not particularly healthy. Major kudos for this!
As for the educational aspect, my reaction is similar. It's utterly flawless! This book manages to teach readers numerous things in a short amount of time, without overwhelming the reader. The activities in the back of the book cover multiple topics: recall, literary devices/elements, and very basic critical thinking. I know for a fact this this book is going to be *fundamental* for so many kids, and I can't express enough how perfect this book is.
Kids will definitely pick up on Ace's productive behaviors, and these behaviors will take them far.

This is a very sweet story with a beautiful message! I was drawn to this book because English Bulldogs are my favorite breed of dogs, so I was happy to see this breed as the star. Ace is a wonderful character who never waivers in who he is and is willing to stick up for himself and find the people who see value in who he is. This is a fabulous book for children to remind them that they won't always be the same as others, but yet to find joy in who they are. I really enjoyed it and recommend this story to parents and teachers to help reinforce this message.

This is a book geared for children, but my sensitive 6yo asked me to stop reading it because it was too sad. She did not like that the other dogs were laughing at Ace.

loved ace and how he learnt to defend himself against the other dogs that were bullying him....also such a great way to raise awareness and
ask questions to benefit children's curious minds!!

I'm Different. So What?! starts out with a story about dogs who are having issues with teasing at the dog park. The situation can be easily applied to playground dynamics. The main dog works through the situation with various strategies. After the story, tips for kids and parents are listed. It wraps up with an activity book that goes along with the story. This could be easily utilized in an early elementary classroom setting.

Thanks to Jireh Publishers and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.