Just a Little Different (Little Golden Storybook) [Hardcover]

Mercer Mayer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 1998 | Age Level: 3 and up | Series: Little Golden Storybook

A new kid has moved in next door to Little Critter and his family. He's a nice kid but he's just a little bit different: his mother is a rabbit and his father is a turtle. This timely story about prejudice and friendship is filled with Mercer Mayer's trademark humor.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 24 pages
• Publisher: Golden Books; Deluxe edition (March 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307160092
• ISBN-13: 978-0307160096
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,808,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Teaches "don't judge a book by it's cover", but..., October 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Just a Little Different (Little Golden Book) (Hardcover)

It's an okay book. It tries to relate human inter-racial marriages and it's offsprings through a 'animal gender mixed marriage and it's offspring', dealing with why children of inter-racial parents look different. However, the book could have gone more indepth with dealing with why the Rabbit was married to the Turtle, therefore resulting in an offsprings who was half rabbit and half turtle. The book does teach a "don't judge a book by its cover" lesson, and it's reading level should not be placed at Baby-Preschool, but placed more at Preschool-Teen. When I began to read the first page of the book to my 4-year old daughter, and it read that "Zack is different." "His mother is a rabbit and his father is a Turtle." She looked at the moving furniture man (in the background) and said that he should be the father; the furniture man was...a rabbit. She has already preconceived what society is telling her is to be the 'correct way', and that is why there needs to be more children books readily available that deal with inter-racial couples, marriages and bi-,multi-racial children. I think the book should have explained why the Rabbit and Turtle were married (love). And why Zack 'looks' the way he does (made by two people who love one another and wanted to bring someone special into this world, despite their 'outer' appearance).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be kind to others who are different than you, December 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Just a Little Different (Little Golden Book) (Hardcover)

I bought this book because my 5 year old son goes to a school with very little diversity, not by design, but due to geography. He now understands that being different isn't a bad thing. It is the differences that make each of us special. I wanted to stress to him that just because someone looks different doesn't mean he/she cannot be your friend. It's hard to be the new kid and look different. I hope now my son will not shy away from someone who is different, and rather, invite him/her into his activities and get to know him/her. In the book, the Little Critter discovered that the new kid, Zack, was fun and stuck with him even when his friends shyed away.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Help for parents of biracial kids with questions, April 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Just a Little Different (Little Golden Book) (Hardcover)

I am a single mom of an "almost" four year old (as my daughter would say)biracial child. Although I live in a pretty diverse city (Philadelphia), there exists much ignorance, prejudice and real cruelty with respect to the questions, stares and comments people make when I am with my daughter. Even as far as going to parks and people thinking I am the au pair for my child. Despite the growing number of biracial children being born, some people still don't get it. My daughter has started making observations about her skin tone being different than mine, her eyes being different than mine, etc. This book was a wonderful way for me to start talking with my child about why she is different than children who are "all black" or "all white" and that there's nothing wrong with her...that sometimes people are just unsure. I use this book to let her know that being biracial is actually pretty darn special. That she has the best of both worlds in terms of culture and ethnicity...and to teach her to embrace that and not be upset by other's ignorance. The book helped me to teach her that as long as she continues to be her beautiful, lovable, fun self, people who are worth being friends with will be honored to be her friends....for the rest of the crowd who doesn't....it's their loss.

I would HIGHLY recommend this book to parents of biracial children.

Holly in Philly.