As a longtime reader of Karen Walrond's blog Chookooloonks, I expected her first book, The Beauty of Different: Observations of a Confident Misfit, to be gorgeous. I'm familiar enough with her pictures to expect the photography to be stunning; I'm familiar enough with her probing writing style to know that her narrative would touch me. I knew these things, because I know Karen.
What I didn't know was how substantial this book would be, and I mean that in every sense of the word. The physical book itself is coffee-table-worthy in its heft and glossiness, and the stories captured within its pages...oh, my.
Karen backs up her contention that what makes us different is also what makes us beautiful with varied and poignant glimpses into true life--her own, and so many others'. Page after page of beauty unfolds with stunning colors and smiles and piercing gazes, and woven throughout it all, tales of joy and pain and growing and learning and losing and overcoming.
This book is a testament to the human spirit, and seeing it through a talented storyteller's literal and figurative lens is simply breathtaking.
Give this book to your favorite sister, aunt, mother, best friend, or anyone who needs reminding that they are beautiful just as they are. Read: everyone.
You can purchase The Beauty of Different from Bright Sky Press or from our affiliate, Amazon.
