It’s never easy to be different, but Boothbay author Trina Mata’u Ragan is doing her bit to help children rejoice in the idea that we all have something to offer and are all special.

Ragan is the author of children’s picture book “Shadow,” the story of a crayon different from all the others in the box. The white-spotted, blue crayon finds it hard to fit in. And, as the story unfolds, he becomes increasingly isolated from the other crayons, both through his actions – he feels inferior and doesn’t know how to join in with the other crayons – and the other crayons’ intentional distancing and feelings of superiority.

It is a story familiar to many children and one Ragan has experienced personally. “I come from two different nationalities – Caucasian American and Polynesian,” she said. “I grew up feeling different – whichever group I was with I didn’t quite fit in. Many children today, no matter what, feel different, like there’s something wrong with them, like everyone else is better than they are. I wrote ‘Shadow’ because I wanted to encourage kids, offer them hope, let them know that they have a purpose in life, that everyone has a purpose, that we’re all special.”

“Shadow,” illustrated by Barbara Perez, is available on Amazon and locally at Coastal Bounty Barn on Route 27 across from River Road.