The Colors of Us

by Karen Katz

Book Overview

A positive and affirming look at skin color, from an artist's perspective.

Seven-year-old Lena is going to paint a picture of herself. She wants to use brown paint for her skin. But when she and her mother take a walk through the neighborhood, Lena learns that brown comes in many different shades.

Through the eyes of a little girl who begins to see her familiar world in a new way, this book celebrates the differences and similarities...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805071636
• ISBN13: 9780805071634
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Square Fish
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.0" x 9.8"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

part of some pages were torn - writing missing so you couldn't follow the story…

Pages were torn, writing missing.

Creative book about each person's uniqueness

Karen Katz has succeeded in presenting a colorful and creative book that describes the many beautiful shades of skin tone in our society. She teaches her daughter, Lena, that there are many shades of brown. They walk through their neighborhood, using color tones and food items to make tasteful distinctions. After Lena mixes her paint colors to match the subtle hues and paint each person, she exclaims, "Look Mom, the colors of us!" This has been a wonderful book for my 2 year old son to explore the differences in races as we await the adoption of our baby from China. He has memorized the skin color descriptions and has noticed people in our community/church whose skin matches them. This incredible book has become one of our favorites.

My Favorite Children's Book

I am an elementary school counselor and read this book to second graders. They love the comparisons of skin colors to foods, and it leaves everyone feeling good about the way they look. It is a strong multicultural book, but the presentation is very subtle, and not preachy.

Great Book

This book is a great!A modern, hip book for all ages. The wonderful world of Color comes to life in all the Colors of People! My 4 year old loves the yummy discriptions of the book and learns to respect the differences in all of us. Thanks Karen Katz for writing and illurtating a great book. We hope more iwll follow

Great book

This is a wonderful book to introduce children to the concept of multiculturalism. I am white, my husband is Mexican and my daughters are dark like my husband. It is wonderful to see a book with a white mother and dark daughter, and it's wonderful to see all the different colored characters. My 4-year-old loves this book and I love reading her a story with a character she can relate to. I highly recommend it.

Excellent Book!

I am a Pre-K/K Teacher. Last school year a child in my class, who had many questions about skin color, instantly attached to this book and it remained a favorite all year long. This is an excellent book that explores the various hues of us in a format that is extremely appealing and inviting to children. It is a great spring board for discussions of color and race with young children. A must have for any early childhood library.