The Color of Us
Written by Karen Katz
The Color of Us by Karen Katz is a great book for young readers. This book is based off of contemporary realistic fiction. According to Literature and the Child page 24, the story is plausible, well defined conflict and strong characterization. This is the perfect book for children in grades first through third. This book entails multicultural backgrounds and how they are similar and different.
This story is about a little girl named Lena and her mother. Lena wanted to paint a self-portrait using the color brown. But, before she was able to do that her mother took her for a walk to explore the world around their community. During the walk, Lena learned that there are many different shades of brown. She also learned many of things within other cultures that are similar and different.
The illustrations in the book were rich and detailed. Also, a wide range of colors were used to promote the different cultures used in the story. The pictures are simple but have so great detail.
I found Karen Katz's book to be interesting and very child friendly. I like The Color of Us because it is easy to read and has great illustrations. The reader is able to connect the drawings with the story.
This is a good book to read to my future students to learn simple things from other cultures. I would not put too much emphasis on a lot of differences within the different cultures. A class project that can be done with the students is to have four or five groups and have the students do some research on the culture. The final project would be to have the students create a lunch menu and and bring in some of the foods so that everyone could sample foods from the different cultures.
Some questions that can be asked from reading the book and class project are:
1. What shade of color is your skin?
2. What fruit or vegetable looks similar to your skin color?
3. The book describes a lot of differences in people. Do you think everyone should look the same? Why or why
not?
This was a great book to read. It is very educational and well presented. I believe that this is the better way of introducing or explaining to children why people look different, rather than saying something that can be degrading or biased. I would recommend this book when introducing multicultural backgrounds.
References:
Galda, L., Cullinan, B., & Sipe, L. (2010) Literature and the Child (7th ed.). Belmount. Wadsworth
Katz, K (2003). The Colors of Us, (1st ed.). New York, NY: Owlet Paperbacks.
