A Preston woman is inspiring others to reflect on their own personal differences with her children’s book collection based on disabilities and differences.

Joanne Moore has been working on ‘The Bit Different’ collection for the past seven years and has released two books so far.

The author told Blog Preston that the main message behind the book collection is to convey the importance of creating an inclusive environment from a young age.

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Joanne decided to write the books after she was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Her youngest daughter at the time couldn’t understand why she was unable to get out of bed some days, and struggled with things that other parents could do as she looked ’normal’. 

Joanne said: “I just remember I was having to sleep quite a lot, and most of it was in the morning.

“At some point I didn’t want her to think I was lazy, I wanted to explain to her that I have this medical condition without scaring her.”

“Then it made me think about other people, how parents and children all have medical issues or differences, and perhaps how they would like a book series focusing on characters differences to be able to introduce to their child.”

Bertie The Very Blind Bat is the author’s first book which was published in December 2021. It’s about a bat who sees himself as a super-bat despite the fact he gets himself into tricky situations due to being blind.

Joanne said the book raises awareness on blindness: “It’s all about focusing on Bertie’s skills and how brave he is, and even though he’s blind he uses his senses to be able to help him in a particular situation.”

Joanne told Blog Preston that the book received great attention as a number of blind charities reached out to her and a parent in particular.

She said: “A parent contacted me when the book was first published, she sent me a lovely message about her son who had just been diagnosed with a condition that meant he would eventually go blind.

“She said I can’t wait to read this book to him, thank you for bringing this book out, so I can prepare and make him realise he’s still special regardless.”

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Crosby The Not So Snappy Crocodile is the second book, which was recently published in July this year. The book is about behavioural differences dealing with themes of anti-bullying, self acceptance, and finding your own particular skill.

The story focuses on a crocodile who isn’t a typical crocodile. He is gentle, kind and likes doing nice things as Joanne told Blog Preston the lesson is that you don’t have to conform to stereotypes or norms.

The 40-year-old who was previously an A-level teacher and pastoral care worker, noticed certain behaviours in students. She said: “If you see a student who’s a little bit lonely, or if a student comes and tells you that they don’t fit in or they’re being bullied you want to eliminate that.”

“Making children think about being inclusive and maybe reflect on their own differences, and have them think you know what I have this difference and it’s been really worrying me, but actually it’s okay for people to know about it and accept me.

“I just need to accept myself, to want to include people no matter what their issues are, and to be confident in asking whether someone has a medical issue.

“Having that opportunity of I’ve read a book about this, and I’m going to ask rather than feel a bit anxious or weary to promote inclusivity encourages kindness and acceptance.”

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Michelle Gemmel, who is the illustrator of the book collection met Joanne at university more than 20 years ago and both have been friends ever since.

She illustrates the books and personalised the first book cover by designing Bertie with two coloured eyes which Joanne said was a nice gesture as she herself has the same features.

Michelle told Blog Preston about her role: “I have been a designer for many years and designed various products but this was the first time I had illustrated children’s books.

“The trickiest part is creating the main character.

“The reader has to really connect with them and feel all the emotions they are going through. Once you have the character the rest of the illustrations seem to flow together nicely.”

Joanne is now looking forward to releasing more of her work in the near future. The aim is to have six to eight books in the collection, each focusing on different disabilities and differences.

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