Author strives to instill acceptance, inclusion in new book

After achieving success as an entrepreneur, Chicago resident Robert Kroupa knew what he wanted to accomplish next.

"This is something I've had in my mind for a long time," said Kroupa, an inventor and civic activist about his recently released book "Just Like You," illustrated by Hannah E. Harrison. "It's based on my personal experiences and also in response to what is now an epidemic of bullying. The idea of tolerance and inclusion being instilled in children starting at a young age has long been a passion of mine and I hope that this book is one of the tools that can help children to accept, appreciate and celebrate the similarities and differences in all of us."

When Kroupa was growing up, he had a friend who lived with her wheelchair–bound aunt, a grandfather who had suffered a stroke and a grandmother struggling with Alzheimer's.

"But she didn't see them as disabled," said Kroupa about his friend Frankie. "She just saw them as people that she loved. That was very inspirational for me."

Kroupa has also been inspired by the patients he sees at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

So he decided to tell the story of Boris and Henry, two animals who live on the edge of Piney Woods, shunned by others because they are different in looks, the way the walk, talk and do things. But when the forest, where all the animals live, catches on fire, Boris and Henry know they must warn all those who disdained them and help lead them to safety. And in the end, the other animals realize that the two are just like them.

"It's important to help stop this bullying epidemic and what it's doing to our children," Kroupa said.