A young boy is headed to his first day at a new school and he’s terrified. Here people drive luxury cars, live in houses along avenues, and the sidewalks are clean and neat, so different from the ramshackle neighbourhood where he grew up. But the hardest part is being a Black student in a school that is mostly white. 

The boy feels disoriented, lost, and friendless, and when the teacher pronounces his name – each syllable in agonizing slowness – the class erupts in laughter and the boy is set apart even further. Students pick on the food he brings for lunch, a police officer stops him for questioning on his way home, and he battles stereotypes about what it is to be Black. 

Only when a fight breaks out and he’s suspended does he finally tell his mother how he’s feeling, learning a lesson about being proud of who he is and where he comes from. 

Mc Knoell Alexis plays with rhythm, rhyme, and layout to craft a story that is so much more than words on a page. Unlike more traditional children’s books that play with bright colours and images, this one focuses on the words themselves, which grow and shrink, fade, form images like question marks and arrows, stagger across the page, and stand out against shifting backgrounds of black and white – showing how words can harm as well as create powerful, positive change.

Based on Alexis’ own experience as a Haitian growing up in Montreal, The Color of My Difference is a heartfelt reminder that being different can truly be one’s greatest strength.mRb