Here is a selection of books from our collection exploring skin tone and color and other racial features and countering anti-blackness. We strive to include as much varied racial/cultural representation as possible, but these lists also reflect what is available on the market.
These titles are only a sample of what you can find in our full collection. To see more, go to Search the Collection and use the “Content” filter on the left-hand menu for “Race-Related.”
All the colors we are / Todos los colores de nuestra piel
Explains, in simple terms, the reasons for skin color, how it is determined by heredity, and how various environmental factors affect it.
Amazing faces
Poems focusing on universal emotions, as expressed by poets from diverse backgrounds, including Joseph Bruchac, Nikki Grimes, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Pat Mora, Janet S. Wong, and many others.–Provided by publisher
Chocolate me!
Relates the experiences of a dark-skinned, curly-haired child who wishes he could look more like the lighter- skinned children in his community until his mother helps him realize how wonderful he is inside and out
Happy in our skin
A delightfully rhythmical read-aloud text is paired with bright, bustling art from the award-winning Lauren Tobia, illustrator of Anna Hibiscus, in this joyful exploration of the new skin of babyhood. A wonderful gift book for new mums and toddlers; all children can see themselves, and open their eyes to the world around them, in this sweet, scrumptious celebration of skin in all its many, many, wonderful forms.
I Am Brown
“I am brown. I am beautiful. I am perfect. I designed this computer. I ran this race. I won this prize. I wrote this book. A joyful celebration of the skin you’re in—of being brown, of being amazing, of being you.” — publisher
I am Hapa! / !Soy Hapa!
With delightful photographs, I am Hapa encourages children to look within themselves and appreciate the diverse cultures and ethnicities that make each person special. I am Hapa is the first trilingual children’s book in English, Spanish and Chinese, celebrating the multiracial and multicultural experience.
Lulu the One and Only
“Lulu loves her family, but people are always asking: What are you? Lulu hates that question. Her brother inspires her to come up with a “power phrase” so she can easily express who she is, not what she is. Includes a Note to Readers from the author, sharing her experience as a multiracial person.” — from the publisher
Magnificent homespun brown
“Told by a succession of exuberant young narrators, Magnificent Homespun Brown is a story — a song, a poem, a celebration — about feeling at home in one’s own beloved skin.” — publisher
Shades of people
Explores the many different shades of human skin, and points out that skin is just a covering that does not reveal what someone is like inside
