Fallen Dragon, Peter F. Hamilton

Jedzella stuck her hand up, finders wiggling frantically, "Were they people just like us?"

"Their bodies were different." Denise said. "Some of the races who ere members of the empire had arms and legs similar to ours, some had wings, some had four legs, or six or ten, some had tentacles, some were fish, and some were so big and scary that if you and I saw them we'd run away. But how do we judge people?"

"What they say and do," the children yelled happily, "never how they look."

p. 22

I wish more schools taught this sort of thing.