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Our Differences Make Us Stronger: How We Heal Together
A story about sharing our identities and making new friends from La June Montgomery Tabron, the President and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
La June and her best friend, Jenefer, love going to school in Detroit. They're in the same class, and they always sit together at lunch. La June is Black and Jenefer is White, and they don't notice that all the other kids are sitting with friends who look like them.
But when Jenefer moves away, La June doesn't know where to sit. She feels different. A new girl, Eva, moves into Jenefer's old house, and everything about her feels different to La June, too.
At school, La June's teacher tries something changing up the seats at lunch time. After, he gathers the class into a circle to talk about why it was hard to sit with different people, what they learned about each other, and how they can share more in the future. La June and her classmates start to understand that sometimes it's comfortable to be around people who are like us, but we begin to build a community when we learn about people who are different.
Reflecting the transformative racial healing practices that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation promotes and celebrates around the world, Our Differences Make Us Stronger shows young readers that sharing our stories, listening to others, and learning about our differences are the first steps to building a stronger community.
La June and her best friend, Jenefer, love going to school in Detroit. They're in the same class, and they always sit together at lunch. La June is Black and Jenefer is White, and they don't notice that all the other kids are sitting with friends who look like them.
But when Jenefer moves away, La June doesn't know where to sit. She feels different. A new girl, Eva, moves into Jenefer's old house, and everything about her feels different to La June, too.
At school, La June's teacher tries something changing up the seats at lunch time. After, he gathers the class into a circle to talk about why it was hard to sit with different people, what they learned about each other, and how they can share more in the future. La June and her classmates start to understand that sometimes it's comfortable to be around people who are like us, but we begin to build a community when we learn about people who are different.
Reflecting the transformative racial healing practices that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation promotes and celebrates around the world, Our Differences Make Us Stronger shows young readers that sharing our stories, listening to others, and learning about our differences are the first steps to building a stronger community.
- GenresChildrens
35 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 14, 2025
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 10, 2025
Everyone wants to find people who are "like them" and unfortunately, depending on where you grow up, finding people who are like you means finding people who look like you. In Our Differences Make Us Stronger by La June Montgomery Tabron, we meet a very young La June and her family, growing up in Detroit. While the time period is ambiguous, it doesn't impact the story.
La June is one of ten siblings, so life is never boring. There is a home library, lots of pretend play, softball, and of course, her best friend Jenefer. When Jenefer's family movies away (in the the 1950s White Flight,) La June realizes how life without a best friend can be pretty challenging. Without Jenefer, La June feels lost, especially in the lunch room. Once her new neighbor Eva moves in, she feels even more lost, since Eva isn't Jenefer.
After getting caught eating lunch in the classroom, La June's teacher holds a few classroom conversations to help kids recognize and appreciate each other's differences. This is something that should happen in every classroom, and this book should be on the start-of-school read-aloud list in every elementary school!
La June is one of ten siblings, so life is never boring. There is a home library, lots of pretend play, softball, and of course, her best friend Jenefer. When Jenefer's family movies away (in the the 1950s White Flight,) La June realizes how life without a best friend can be pretty challenging. Without Jenefer, La June feels lost, especially in the lunch room. Once her new neighbor Eva moves in, she feels even more lost, since Eva isn't Jenefer.
After getting caught eating lunch in the classroom, La June's teacher holds a few classroom conversations to help kids recognize and appreciate each other's differences. This is something that should happen in every classroom, and this book should be on the start-of-school read-aloud list in every elementary school!
December 2, 2024
This is such a meaningful and important book! I truly believe that teachers, caregivers, parents, etc. should be reading this book to the youth around them. While one book isn't going to solve the world's problems, this book gets close. Through the real-life experiences of La June, this book teaches readers how to break down divides. It shows that, despite identity differences, everyone can still come together. Further, this book illustrates that it's beneficial to interact with people that have identities that are different from your own. The author conveys this idea in a really comprehensive and simple way, through foods and names from different places. This allows the story's message to effortlessly get through to little ones, which is so important for this specific book. Lastly, this book is highly realistic and relatable. I know for a fact that divisions such as these are present in schools everywhere, and all of the conflicts that La June encounters throughout the story could definitely happen to any kid.
This is an amazing book; bravo!
This is an amazing book; bravo!
October 14, 2024
When La June's best friend moves away, she doesn’t know where she fits in at school and ends up eating lunch on her own. Her teacher notices and decides to do something about it. He has each student state his/her name and what it means. He tells them that by learning about each other and embracing differences leads to building an inclusive community. Doing things outside one's comfort zone leads to growth.
#OurDifferencesMakeUsStronger #DisruptionBooks #NetGalley
#OurDifferencesMakeUsStronger #DisruptionBooks #NetGalley
January 30, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc.
This was an oddly deep children’s book about racism and how overcoming it and learning from it can expand one’s horizons and worldview. There’s something about children’s books covering topics with actual grace and tact that I really respect, as it’s not always easy to break down a layered concept in a way that keeps the meaning without watering it down too much. I think this book hits a good balance.
This was an oddly deep children’s book about racism and how overcoming it and learning from it can expand one’s horizons and worldview. There’s something about children’s books covering topics with actual grace and tact that I really respect, as it’s not always easy to break down a layered concept in a way that keeps the meaning without watering it down too much. I think this book hits a good balance.
September 12, 2024
When La June's best friend moves away, she is sad and confused about where to fit in with the other kids at school. Her teacher comes up with a great plan to help. This book shows us a very simple and beautiful way to step out of our comfort zone and expand our circle of friends. Whenever we take the time to know another person that may look different from us, our own lives are enriched.
March 10, 2025
Wordy but thoughtful and important picture book about a group of young elementary school students who learn about embracing differences and being open to friendship with those who may be different from you.
June 23, 2025
This is a very meaningful book for all ages. La June does a wonderful job telling the story based on her life experience as a child. She tells how her teacher made his classroom better by using a "racial healing circle". It allows healing when those of different backgrounds and skin colors share their stores and explain their differences. It requires serious listening to each other, so we can understand and make our community stronger.
The last two pages provides the reader with a short biography of the author La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. It describes "What is a Racial Healing Circle?" and provides "Questions to Make You Think". To find out more see dayofracialhealing.org.
The illustrator does a beautiful job of providing a diverse group of children and adults to help tell the story. They are very authentic in all aspects.
The last two pages provides the reader with a short biography of the author La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. It describes "What is a Racial Healing Circle?" and provides "Questions to Make You Think". To find out more see dayofracialhealing.org.
The illustrator does a beautiful job of providing a diverse group of children and adults to help tell the story. They are very authentic in all aspects.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews