When Lena’s artist of a mom tells her that if she mixes red, yellow, black, and white paints in the right combination, she can have the right brown for a picture of her, Lena responds with:

“The right brown?  But Mom, brown is brown.” 

There begins an afternoon of discovery for Lena.  She and her mother go throughout the neighborhood, meeting up with family and friends, opening Lena’s eyes to the vibrant palette of browns: cinnamon, peanut butter, chocolate, honey, butterscotch, and other beautiful shades.  Lena learns that brown is not just brown.  Instead, it is a vast spectrum of colors…the colors of us.

“The Colors of Us” by Karen Katz is a carefree story with an empowering message, celebrating cultural diversity and the beauty of different skin tones. 

This book is an all-time favorite in our home.  I always wanted my own daughter to view her gorgeous brown skin in a positive light so I started from when she was a tiny little tot, complementing her natural caramel colored skin that the sun kissed into cinnamon every summer. Even though my daughter is now 10 and has outgrown the reading level, she hasn’t outgrown the message and often recommends it to other younger children

We’ve also done cool activities to bring the message home like painting a self-portrait or putting my daughter’s arm next to various food items mentioned in the book to find the right match of her skin tone.

I also love that Karen Katz wrote this lovely book for her daughter, Lena, whom she and her husband adopted from Guatemala.

It really is a fun and simple yet empowering read for all children.