This Cherry Hill mom wrote an ode to self-love for her neurodiverse son. Now it's a children's book, coming soon

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It’s okay to be you. That’s the message in a new children’s book, written and illustrated by two South Jersey women.

Susanne Munn of Cherry Hill wrote a poem for her son when he was 10. He is considered “neurodiverse,” which means he has atypical patterns of thoughts and behaviors that are simply different from the average or “neurotypical” person.

“He was really struggling, at that time, with fitting in and making friends and finding just genuine, authentic human connection. And it was heartbreaking as a mom, you know, to see him struggle with that,” said Munn.

She expanded the poem into a book — “The Great Shape Debate” — a children’s book about self-love and self-acceptance. In a town of wonderful, diverse shapes and colors, no one is happy with how they look. Some shapes envy the circle for being able to roll. Others want to be like the star, so they can shine — and so on. In the end, one very special shape helps the others see that they are perfect just the way they are.

“Being neurodiverse, or thinking differently, and having to be in social-skills classes when he was growing up … he just felt like, no matter what he did, he was constantly comparing himself to the others and wanting to fit in.”

Munn says she wanted her son to know it’s okay to be different.

“We live in a society where comparison runs rampant. And you know, whether it's social media or even just someone you know, sitting next to you at work — whether it's their hair, their skin color, their relationship status, their bank account, it's really hard to live in the world today and not compare yourself to someone else.”

Munn’s friend, Amy Towers of Haddonfield, brightly illustrated the book with fun pictures that bring the shapes and their personalities to life.

Hear to the full conversation with author Susanne Munn and illustrator Amy Towers on the latest edition of Bridging Philly:

Munn says she realized the book is true to herself as well.

“It works on two levels. On the surface, it's a fun story about shapes. It has a cute storyline, and it's visually engaging and all that stuff. But if you're open to looking deeper, it has a much larger message beneath the surface too.”

“The Great Shape Debate” will be released on June 3 and is available for pre-orders .