In this post, we feature author Meg Eden Kuyatt. You can hear her speak about her new novel-in-verse, Good Different, and try her “invitation to imagine” activity. You’ll also find other resources to explore. Thanks for joining us, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
Good Different
- Written by Meg Eden Kuyatt
- Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc.
- Release date: April 4, 2023
Selah knows her rules for being normal. She always, always sticks to them. This means keeping her feelings locked tightly inside, even though, as the school day goes on, she has to run to a bathroom stall until she can calm down. The second she gets home, she has to tear off her normal-person mask and listen to her favorite pop song on repeat, trying to recharge. Selah feels like a dragon stuck in a world of humans, but she knows how to hide it. But then one day, she explodes and hits a fellow student. Afterwards, Selah’s friends pull away from her, her school threatens expulsion, and her comfortable, familiar world starts to crumble. As Selah starts to figure out more about who she is, she comes to understand that different doesn’t mean damaged. Can she get her school to understand that, too, before it’s too late? The challenge of learning to celebrate the things that make us different is at the heart of this moving novel-in-verse.
From Good Different, by Meg Eden Kuyatt.
“All the people / and noise / pricked inside my head / like a hundred shirt tags. “
Click here to view a longer preview of Good Different, by Meg Eden Kuyatt.
Explore Good Different
Listen to Meg Eden Kuyatt talking with TeachingBooks about creating Good Different. You can click the player below or experience the recording on TeachingBooks, where you can read along as you listen, and also translate the text to another language.
- Listen to author Meg Eden Kuyatt pronounce her name.
- Read along with an audiobook performance of Good Different.
- Explore TeachingBooks’ collection of activities and resources for Good Different.
Invitation to Imagine
TeachingBooks asks each author or illustrator on our Virtual Book Tour to share a writing prompt, a drawing exercise, or just an interesting question to spark curiosity and creativity. Enjoy the following activity contributed by Meg Eden Kuyatt.
Imagination Activity with Meg Eden Kuyatt
Selah uses her special interest in dragons to connect with what she’s experiencing, particularly in the poem, “Inside Me, There Are Dragons.” What’s your special interest? What gets you excited? What do you LOVE? Why do you love that thing? Write an ode to what you love! Tell us the specific details!
Finish This Sentence . . . with Meg Eden Kuyatt
As part of our Virtual Book Tour, TeachingBooks asks authors and illustrators to complete short sentence prompts. Enjoy Meg Eden Kuyatt’s responses.
“A surprising thing that helps me work is…”
A surprising thing that helps me work is listening to video-game soundtracks.
“I hope that my book may encourage readers to think about…”
I hope that my book may encourage readers to think about the ways we each have our own “good different” and why people do what they do. If someone does something that surprises me, I want to try to ask myself why they do it instead of making assumptions.
Thank you!
To wrap up this Virtual Book Tour, we thank Meg Eden Kuyatt for signing a book for all of us.
More Connections to Meg Eden Kuyatt and Good Different
- Discover books like Good Different on TeachingBooks.
- Scholastic’s page about Good Different, written by Meg Eden Kuyatt.
- Buy Good Different, written by Meg Eden Kuyatt.
Explore all of the titles featured in the TeachingBooks Virtual Book Tour: one link with author interviews, lesson plans, activities, and more!
All text and images are courtesy of Meg Eden Kuyatt and Scholastic, Inc. and may not be used without expressed written consent.
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