Greensburg resident publishes children's book 'We Are Different but a Lot Alike'

Linda Guest-Peters was driving home from her job in Youngwood one day when a thought kept popping into her head.

“An assortment of flowers makes a better flower garden. May all your friendships blossom like a flower garden,” served as inspiration for her new children’s book, “We Are Different but a Lot Alike.” The book was published in May by Conneaut Lake-based Page Publishing.

“It catches their attention, and people receive it very well,” Guest-Peters, of Greensburg, says of the title. “They’re standing there, and they’re listening. Everyone’s comment is the same — ‘We need something like that today.’ “

The 28-page book asks the question: If other children look different from you, would you think you have anything in common?

The story is told in a rhythmic way by nine children who discover their individuality while showing interest in each other. The children are different in various ways — one has braces, another has glasses and one child is in a wheelchair, for instance.

Guest-Peters said as she wrote the book, she would think back to grade school where she “always found it odd where we’re all kids and we all like kids things. Just because someone looks different, other kids will think you don’t have it or you’ll never play with this or that. A lot of kids don’t understand that we’re all the same when it comes to childlike things.”

The goal is to teach good morals of acceptance early in childhood in an effort to create a harmonious world where everyone gets along, regardless of their differing appearances.

Guest-Peters noted she hopes the book will be “in the hands of many children. May this book become a teaching tool about friendship.”

Recently, there has been a push to include diversity among children’s books, although progress has been slow, The Associated Press reported.

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education in 2019 reported that just 12% of books had at least one primary character who was Black, almost 9% had a character that was Asian or Asian American, about 5% had a Latino character and about 3% had a character with a disability.

For Guest-Peters, publishing her book fulfilled a yearslong dream. She previously attended the Institute of Children’s Literature in Connecticut, earning three diplomas.

For 20 years, she wrote poems focusing on objects, such as a toy red wagon.

Now that she has published her first book, Guest-Peters is writing a series of children’s books.

“We Are Different but a Lot Alike” is sold at more than 60 retailers worldwide, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.