The Skin You Live In

This book was super enjoyable to read! I loved the rhyme and the fun words and adjectives the author used. It's the perfect amount of silly, sweet, and sincere. The rhythm was catchy and made it entertaining to follow. I liked how many activities the book covered, and got me to think outside the box. I appreciated the diversity conveyed in the pictures, in the size, shape, color, family, and more. The pictures are nonchalantly so diverse that the reader does not even notice how the characters are depicting the meaning until the part in the picture book where it discusses how it matters who we are over how we look. I Overall, really enjoyed reading it!
It got me thinking about how much I do, and how the things that define me and are most show more important to me are on the inside, not the outside. This contributes to the overall theme which is accepting diversity and treating everyone equally. Additionally, the author is able to convey that everyone has special talents and interests, and that they should be celebrated! The book's message even includes how competition is unhealthy and unnecessary. I was not expecting to get as much out of this book as I did, and I'm really happy I got the chance to read it. show less

Another book trying to celebrate diversity and falling a bit short. The text is very lyrical and descriptive, but runs a little long and repetitive. The part that talks about what your skin is "not" started getting a little confusing: "...Nor sad skin or mad skin, you're naturally bad skin; I'm rich and you're poor and you'll never have more skin." The other issue is that all of the people depicted have cartoony football-shaped heads and big round eyes (not outlined in black), except for one recurring character who has a rounder head and very narrow, fish-shaped eyes outlined thickly in black. I imagine the illustrator was trying to represent an Asian face, but it really came out looking stereotypical and stood out as very different show more from the other faces - in a bad way. show less

I absolutely loved this book, it was a large poem about how important our skin is. It is what we do everything in like : "The skin that you beam in; the skin that you scream in; the skin that dream about eating ice cream in." The poem talks about how everyone has different types and shades of skin and they actually compared it to a bunch of different types of food like: mountain high apple pie skin, ginger snapped cinnamon spice skin or caramel corn nice skin. On every page was a different illustration of someone with a different shade of skin with different hair, faces and hair. Near the end it talks about how our skin does not define us. It does not mean that we are sad, sporty, bad, rich or poor, right or wrong skin or she is better show more and you are lesser skin. It finishes with that the reader is more than they seem they are all that we think and all that we hope and dream. I love the flow of this book and the overall message that a physical appearance does not define us but rather we are that our skin holds the 'You' within it. Definitely one of my favorite books so far. show less

This book was cute. It was rhymey and had really great illustrations. The story pointed out how everyone's skin is different, but everyone still does and enjoy the same/similar things (i.e. playing, spending time with family, etc.). I didn't like how obviously it pointed out skin color. I appreciate the fact that recognizing difference is the first thing you have to do to appreciate differences, but it wasn't very subtle like some other books I read. I think this boo would be ok for children in the age range 3-6 years of age, but the older children I think would feel uncomfortable by it.

This lovely picture book is all about skin! Set to the tone of a nursery rhyme, it portrays a diverse mirage of children doing what children do; playing, swimming, eating, laughing, etc. It introduces a great social concept to young readers, embracing themselves, and others, regardless of noticeable physical differences.

I loved this book! The book is formatted as a poem. It teaches students to accept and love people of all races. They even show a blended family (black dad, white mom). On each page, there was a person with a different color of skin. I really liked this because no matter whom the reader was, they could still relate to the story. I enjoyed the illustrations because they were vivid, straight forward and to the point. Throughout the text, certain words were written in different colored font, for example, “It’s whatever you do skin, be happy it’s your skin.” All of the “colored” words were positive and upbeat. I realized that you could turn just the “colored” words into a shorter, fun poem, as well. On the last page of the show more book, people of all races were shown. It is a very powerful book and it ends with the verse, “ and look at the shades it comes in—the shades of your colorful skin!” Overall, this a great book about acceptance and self-confidence. show less

This was an endearing book, and kept my three kiddos (ages 5, 7, and 9) engaged during the short read. My seven year old was pleased to be the one to read it aloud, and the book absolutely was a good tool when my five year old to better understand the importance of embracing the color of each other's skin.