A picture book tells your kid a story and hopes something sticks. This hands YOU the script, the actual words, in order, so you're the one having the conversation, in your own voice, at your own kitchen table. That's the whole difference: books do the WHAT, this does the HOW. You're not outsourcing the talk to a character on a page; you're having it, and the hard part is already written down for you.
The reason "we already talked about it" usually falls short is that the one big talk was vague, one-time, and pitched at whatever age your kid happened to be. This is banded by age on purpose. Your 4-year-old hears the version a 4-year-old can hold; your 9-year-old hears one that respects that she's older and already online. Same seven rules, three different reading levels, so it lands instead of sailing over their head or feeling babyish.
And it's built to be repeatable, which is what actually makes it stick. Five minutes at bedtime, a scenario card at dinner, the poster on the wall, small reps, not one heavy sit-down. Nothing here leans on fear. The rules are calm, concrete, and framed as things your kid gets to know, not things to be afraid of. You come out of it feeling like a parent who's got this, not one who just scared their kid.