A New Book #8: Why What If We Were All Respectful! Is the Story Children Need Right Now

For seven years, the What If We Were All™ Collection has grown alongside the children, families, and educators who read it.

And as the world changes, sometimes a book series needs to change with it.

We originally planned for What If We Were All Mindful! to become Book #8 in the collection. Mindfulness remains an important topic, and it is certainly not disappearing from our publishing plans. But as we continued developing the series, we began looking more closely at what children are experiencing today—in classrooms, on playgrounds, at home, in friendships, and in the conversations happening around them.

We saw a different need.

Children need more opportunities to learn what respect actually looks like in everyday life.

So, we switched it up.

We are officially introducing Book #8 in the What If We Were All™ Collection:

What If We Were All Respectful! by C.M. Harris.

Why Respect—and Why Now?

We often tell children to “be respectful.”

But what does that actually mean to a child?

Respect is much bigger than saying please and thank you. It isn’t simply being quiet when an adult is speaking or following directions.

Respect is learning how to treat another person as someone who matters—even when that person thinks, feels, communicates, moves, believes, or responds differently than you do.

That lesson feels especially important right now.

Children are growing up in a world where they will encounter different opinions everywhere. They will see disagreements among friends, family members, classmates, adults, and eventually online. They need tools for navigating those differences without learning that disagreement automatically makes someone an enemy.

We don’t have to agree to be respectful.

That’s one of the most important ideas behind this book.

Respect Doesn’t Mean We Are All the Same

The What If We Were All™ Collection began with a celebration of our differences, and Respectful! continues that foundation.

Children don’t have to like all the same things.

They don’t have to share the same opinions.

They don’t have to react to situations in exactly the same way.

And they certainly won’t agree all the time.

What matters is what happens next.

Can I disagree with you without being unkind?

Can I listen even when your opinion is different from mine?

Can I be frustrated or angry without using that feeling as permission to hurt someone?

Can I respect your personal space and belongings?

Can I celebrate your accomplishment even when I’m disappointed that I didn’t win?

Can I understand that “no” is an answer that deserves to be respected?

Those are real situations children encounter, and they are exactly the kinds of conversations What If We Were All Respectful! is designed to encourage.

A Book for Home and School

Respect isn’t a lesson that belongs only in the classroom.

It begins at home and extends everywhere children go.

At home, the book can help parents and caregivers open conversations about boundaries, emotions, disagreements, personal space, listening, and treating family members with consideration.

At school, it can support discussions about classmates with different opinions, sharing spaces and materials, handling frustration, resolving conflict, respecting boundaries, and cheering on someone else’s success.

Rather than presenting respect as an abstract character trait, What If We Were All Respectful! brings it into situations children can recognize.

That distinction matters.

We don’t want children simply memorizing the word respect.

We want them to understand how to practice it.

Respect Includes Boundaries

One of the subjects we wanted this book to address is personal boundaries.

Children should learn that affection is not something another person is automatically entitled to receive. A friend may love hugs. Another child may not want one at that moment.

Respect means listening.

It also means understanding personal space, asking before using something that belongs to someone else, and recognizing that another person’s comfort matters.

Teaching these concepts early gives children language they can use in everyday situations while also teaching them to extend that same consideration to others.

Respect Doesn’t Require Hiding Our Emotions

We also didn’t want to create a story that suggests respectful children are children who never become angry.

Children do get angry.

They become frustrated. They feel disappointed. They disagree. Sometimes their feelings are enormous.

Those emotions aren’t the problem.

The lesson is learning what we choose to do with them.

A child can be angry and still learn to think about their words and actions. A child can disagree and still be kind. A conflict can happen and still end with understanding.

That’s a much more realistic conversation about respect than expecting children to be happy and agreeable all the time.

Preparing Children for a Diverse World

Perhaps the biggest reason we made this change is simple: children will share this world with people who are different from them.

That is true in every classroom and every community across the United States.

They will encounter different abilities, cultures, families, personalities, communication styles, perspectives, interests, and opinions.

We cannot prepare children for that world by teaching them that everyone must think alike.

We can prepare them by teaching them how to value another person’s humanity even when differences exist.

You matter. I matter. And our differences don’t erase either one of those truths.

That is the kind of respect we want children to carry beyond the pages of this book.

The What If We Were All™ Collection Is Growing With Its Readers

Changing our original publishing plan wasn’t something we did simply to introduce another title.

It came from asking ourselves the same question we ask when developing every book in this collection:

What do children need from us right now?

For Book #8, our answer became clear.

They need conversations about boundaries.

They need examples of healthy disagreement.

They need permission to have emotions while learning how to handle them.

They need to understand that kindness isn’t reserved for people who agree with them.

And they need to see respect demonstrated—not simply be told to “be respectful.”

That is why What If We Were All Respectful! became the right next book for the collection.

Introducing Book #8: What If We Were All Respectful!

We are excited to officially reveal What If We Were All Respectful!, the eighth book in the What If We Were All™ Collection by award-winning children’s author C.M. Harris.

Created for children, families, educators, counselors, and libraries, this new story will continue the collection’s mission of giving young readers approachable ways to talk about the values that shape how we treat ourselves and one another.

Because children won’t always agree.

They won’t always feel happy.

They won’t always want the same things.

And that’s okay.

The goal was never to make everyone the same.

The goal is to help children understand that even when we’re different, we can still choose respect.

What If We Were All Respectful! is coming soon from Purple Diamond Press.

Book #8 has officially been revealed—and we believe this is exactly the conversation children need right now.

Preorder your copy today!

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