“Stories for boys who dare to be different:  True Tales of Amazing Boys Who Changed the World without Killing Dragons (The Dare to Be Different Series” by Ben Brooks. This is a a very good book I’ve read with my son. It is a second book of this kind that we read. The first one was ” Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women” by Francesca Cavallo and Elena Favilli. These type of books contain a one page short story about a real person who made a mark in history. We read the first book fairly quickly at a rate of about 3 stories per night. Sometimes more. These type of books provides us parents with the opportunity to touch into real life situations, discuss history, and topics like empathy, courage, perseverance, as it relates to human beings, which can be really difficult to explain to kids but so important. I found it easier to explain these concepts in terms of situations that affect human beings and also think this can be a more direct way to discuss such topics than talking about more abstract examples like when utilizing books about creatures that do not exist. The book introduces a person, where are they from, how they grew up, their dreams or aspirations, and in many cases the difficulties they encounter on their paths. The stories are simple and do not include many details or explanations but they allow parents to talk as simple or as detailed as they seem fit for their kid. In some ocassions we would look up a person and find more information and I would explain to my son how the world around this person looked like. Why they felt the way they did. Other times, I kept the story short and focused on one part of it I wanted him to take from the book. Depending on your kid’s age, interest and capability to understand a certain topic, you can take the decision.

These books are great books for bedtime, in my opinion. Short, simple, but full of opportunities to teach our kids lessons about life. For them to think a bit farther than the book. For a quick history lesson. One thing I’ll say is that it does lack the inclusion of many important characters in history. I think they could have chosen better but it is a good book. I did read the “Goodnight stories for Rebel Girls” book first because I honestly think women are underepresented in history and I wanted my kid to learn about women who did amazing things. He enjoyed it and learn a lot from this book. “Goodnight stories for Rebel Girls” is the first of digital media company and children’s book publisher Rebel Girls, founded by Elena Favilli in 2016. They have a variety of books that utilize the same format of bringing the kids short stgories about amazing women. In a similar way “Stories for boy who dare to be different” is one of a series of books by Ben Brooks that utilizes a similar format.

If you want to know more check out their book series. Read a bit before sitting down to read with your kid, and get ready to answer difficult questions in a simple kid friendly manner.

Enjoy!