Nuestras Diferencias Nos Hacen Más Fuertes - by La June Montgomery Tabron (Hardcover)

About the Book

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 new: 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.

Book Synopsis

Una historia acerca de compartir nuestras identidades y hacer nuevos amigos de La June Montgomery Tabron, presidenta y directora general de la Fundación W.K. Kellogg.

A La June y a su mejor amiga les encanta ir a la escuela en Detroit. Están en el mismo salón de clases y a la hora del almuerzo siempre se sientan juntas. La June es negra y Jenefer es blanca. Las dos niñas no se dan cuenta de que todos sus compañeros se sientan con amigos que tienen el mismo aspecto que ellos.

Pero cuando Jenefer y su familia se mudan a otra ciudad, La June no sabe dónde sentarse. Se siente diferente. Una niña nueva, Eva, llega a vivir a la antigua casa de Jenefer. La June siente que Eva y todo lo que la rodea es también diferente.

En la escuela, el maestro de La June hace un experimento: cambia los asientos de los estudiantes durante el almuerzo. Después reúne a toda la clase en un círculo para hablar sobre por qué fue difícil sentarse con personas diferentes, qué aprendieron unos de otros y cómo pueden conversar más y compartir ideas en el futuro. La June y sus compañeros de clase comienzan a comprender que a veces nos sentimos a gusto cuando estamos con personas que son como nosotros, pero que cuando aprendemos sobre las personas que son diferentes a nosotros, empezamos a construir una comunidad.

Como reflejo de los beneficiosos círculos de sanación racial que la Fundación W.K. Kellogg organiza en distintos lugares de todo el país, Nuestras diferencias nos hacen más fuertes muestra a los jóvenes lectores que compartir nuestras historias, escuchar a los demás y aprender sobre nuestras diferencias son los primeros pasos que nos llevarán a construir una comunidad más fuerte.

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 new: 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.

About the Author

La June Montgomery Tabron es la primera mujer y la primera persona afroamericana en servir como presidenta y directora general de la Fundación W.K. Kellogg, una de las fundaciones filantrópicas más grandes del mundo. En 2023, Inside Philanthropy nombró a Tabron como una de las 50 mujeres más poderosas de la filantropía en Estados Unidos, y el New York Times, en su cumbre anual DealBook, la calificó como pionera. Tabron ha participado en debates y actuado como ponente en el Festival de Ideas de Aspen, la Iniciativa Global Clinton, el Festival de Cultura ESSENCE y la Universidad de Oxford. Vive en Battle Creek, Michigan.

TeMika Grooms es una escritora e ilustradora radicada en Georgia. Sus historias están inspiradas en el convencimiento de que todos los niños deben poder verse a sí mismos como los héroes o las heroínas de las páginas de un libro. En 2021, fue seleccionada como Mentorada de Ilustración en el programa Necesitamos Libros Diversos y fue miembro de la primera promoción del programa Amplify Black Stories, de la fundación Highlights y The Brown Bookshelf.

La June Montgomery Tabron is both the first woman and the first African American to serve as President and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world. In 2023, Inside Philanthropy named Montgomery Tabron one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in US Philanthropy, and the New York Times named her a Groundbreaker at its annual DealBook Summit. She has spoken at the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Clinton Global Initiative, the ESSENCE Festival of Culture, and the University of Oxford. She lives in Battle Creek, Michigan.

TeMika Grooms is a Georgia-based writer and illustrator creating stories with a belief that all children should be able to see themselves as the hero within the pages of a book. In 2021, she was selected as an Illustration Mentee in the We Need Diverse Books Program and was a member of the first cohort for the Highlights Foundation and The Brown Bookshelf Amplify Black Stories program.