Additional information
by Amanda Gulliver (Illustrator), Jayneen Sanders (Author)
Jess and Ben are twins. Jess is a girl and Ben is a boy but in all the BIG ways, there is NO difference between them
Explore with the children in your care the important issues of gender equality and respectful relationships. Combining cheerful illustrations and a simple but effective narrative, this book will help children to understand that, fundamentally, there is no difference between us.
This book encourages equality and respect for each other from the earliest of years. In order to reduce gender-based violence we need to teach gender equality and respectful relationships to young children. What better way than through a picture storybook? Children are visual learners and the match between illustration and text in this story will assist them to understand that we are all human -- everyone feels, and everyone has hopes and dreams. Our gender should be and needs to be irrelevant.
Throughout the text, open-ended questions are provided on each spread so children have the opportunity to talk about their own experiences -- allowing the child to have a voice. There are more in-depth Discussion Questions on pages 30 and 31 encouraging the reader and the child to think about each scenario, and engage with the message.
"We're all people with feelings, aspirations and dreams . . . no better or worse . . . it's the little differences that make us unique but it doesn't change the big ways that we are the same."
Susannah Low Designer and mother of two daughters
