David Almond introduces his new picture book, A Way to the Stars, a story about perseverance and finding a way to make dreams come true. Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark... In this story of hope and endurance, we follow a scientist and her team during their search for the elusive 'Giant Arctic Jellyfish'. When Along Came A Different opens, we learn that the red shapes adore being red. They love nothing more than to show off their red hats, share red songs and eat as many red apples as they can. Life is happy until something different enters their world, a yellow shape! And then long behold another very different colour makes their presence known, the blues. Eventually chaos erupts and upsets the equilibrium. Things begin to get silly, really silly and before long a set of rules are drawn up by the colours. This seems to work, but for only a little while until yet another different colour arrives on the scene, followed by another colour and a rainbow. Eventually, all the colours begin to realise that rules can be forgotten and it’s about enjoying yourself. The final message that is left with the reader is that being different is ‘the best thing ever’! The simplicity of this text, the subtle messages on friendship and celebrating differences was enough to convince me to endorse Along Came A Different. Add this one to your family library or teaching shelf if you are searching for a picture book that embraces difference, in a fun format.

Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood.Along Came a Different is a one-of-a-kind visually appealing picture book by an established children’s book author and illustrator Tom McLaughlin which focuses on teaching the concepts of differences, social acceptance, and friendships to young children. A timely modern-day classic that welcomes differences and embraces change. Reds love being red. Yellows love being yellow. And Blues love being blue. The problem is that they just don't like each other. There are plenty of teachable moments to be drawn from Along Came A Different. As an educator in an early childhood setting, I could envisage using this text to highlight concepts of same & different, rules, friendship, colour and shape. These ideas are all wrapped up in a format that is accessible for the readership it is intended for, those in the young reader category, aged 5 and under.

A winner of a book about the power of drawing and storytelling ( Oliver Jeffers on THE STORYMACHINE) A very special picture book that supports the adage that there is more that unites us than divides us. Along Came a Different just goes to show how much better we can all be when we come together to find common ground as friends. Every bookshelf should have a copy. Established author and illustrator in the children’s book field, Tom McLaughlin has released a brand new picture book for younger readers (0-5 category) titled, Along Came A Different. It is a visually appealing storybook that zones on in concepts of difference and friendship. Along Came A Different is presented in a format that is very accessible to young readers. Tom McLaughlin's beautifully illustrated book is perfect for imaginative children ( Guardian on THE CLOUDSPOTTER)

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 Although Tom McLaughlin, the author and illustrator of this fantastic picture book Along Came A Different, has created plenty of children’s books, this is my first experience of his work. I really enjoyed this picture book. Not only did it entertain my children and I, it is also a resourceful book that I could use in a teaching setting.