Meet the WAATS: A Tale About Being Different

A bunch of new creatures who all look the same. But which one is which, and what are their names?

When you're meeting the WAATS, you might think it’s a game. Every last one of them all looks the same. But with the right questions to ask to the room, it’s easy to figure out which WAATS is whom.

But how to remember which WAATS that you’ve met? The answer is hidden in this little vignette. “Now off you go, to tell the rest. Just be yourself, ‛cause you’re the best!”

As the adventure starts up anew, will all of the WAATS share their secrets with you?

Meet the WAATS: A Tale About Being Different is a beautifully-illustrated children’s picture book perfect for ages 4 to 8. If you and your child like funny characters, guessing games, and learning what makes every person special, then you’ll love Donald Dione’s rhyming tale.

Buy Meet the WAATS to think different thoughts!

Meet the WAATS: A Tale About Being Different is a fun way to teach kids many important lessons. WAATS is an acronym for We Are All The Same. The WAATS creatures all look the same, but they are really all different - they are all individuals. In other words, "don't judge a book by its cover." 
With this book, I hope to help kids realize that it is okay to be yourself and that being different is okay. But also, I hope the book helps kids realize that they should not stereotype and treat all members of any group the same. This group could be a sports team, a musical group, an ethnicity, or even a gender. Everyone is an individual and should be treated as such, and beyond that, individual differences are to be celebrated and not attacked. An additional mini-goal of the book is to expand the vocabulary of young readers. I believe that children are created to learn, and actually love to be challenged when learning - as long as the teaching is done in a way that is fun, interesting, and ultimately achievable. To this end, I have included new vocabulary words that may be slightly above those typically used by 4 to 8 year-old kids. But I hope that the rhyming and silly pictures will help these kids understand and be able to pronounce/read these new words, and thus, find learning them fun.