When I was a freshman in high school, I met a senior named Trace Wilson in my chorus class. Trace was funny, smart, talented, and all around a great person. But there was one very special thing about Trace: he is a congenital amputee, so he was born without a right hand. This presented him with certain challenges as a child. However, Trace has never let this stop him; he learned to accept and love his uniqueness, and decided to find a way to help other kids understand and accept their own differences.

In May of 2015, he ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund his book Uniquely Me, a storybook for children written specifically for kids with disabilities. Uniquely Me stars a brave little boy who, like Trace and many other children, only has one hand, and follows him as he goes on an adventure to discover why he is different. The book was released in January of this year, and since then has sold over 1,000 copies and touched the hearts of families nationwide. Trace has received many pictures from his unique readers showing their appreciation for his work; even Rebekah Marine, the "Bionic Model", who is currently all the rage in the fashion industry, has a copy of Uniquely Me and shows it off proudly.

Through his book, Trace has had the chance to meet and work with tons of new people and organizations, such as the Lucky Fin Project (an organization which helps children learn about their upper-limb differences using Finding Nemo as a reference). He recently graduated from George Mason University, and just finished writing his second book Uniquely Brave, which is set to release in early 2017.

I'm extremely proud to call this author my friend, and so blessed to have met him when I did. I wish Trace all my best, and strongly suggest everyone check out Uniquely Me! It can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and several other stores, or at www.UniquelyMeBook.com.

Be sure to check out Uniquely Me's Facebook Page, website, and this interview with Trace Wilson!

(All pictures courtesy of Trace Wilson and the Uniquely Me Gallery.)