Written by: Fran Manushkin
Illustrated by: Lauren Tobia
For ages: 2-5 years
Language: English
Topics Covered: Global Community, Skin Tones, Science, Independent Thought, Identities, Friendship, Kindness.
Summary: This is a really cute, short rhyming book that celebrates not only different skin colors but different families as well! Throughout the book the reader learns all about the wonderful things that skin does for a person, and how it can look differently for everyone.
We really love the diverse representation present in these illustrations. Right off the bat, the cover image shows a young girl of color in a wheelchair with a soccer ball playing with other kids running and scootering outside! There are other fabulous examples of diverse families with gay parents, different families with religious head coverings, a child with a large birthmark on their cheek, and a long-haired child with very strong eyebrows. Lauren Tobia has illustrated an incredibly fantastic representation of what life really looks like in many different environments. The text is simple and the rhymes would be really fun to say out loud with a group! This is a book that truly celebrates kindness, community, and loving the unique skin you were born in.
About the Author & the Illustrator:
Fran Manushkin is a prolific writer that has been at it for many years! Here is an excerpt from her website, so you can get to know a little more about her:
“I wasn’t born in a log cabin, although I do come from the Land of Lincoln–Illinois. I grew up in Chicago with five brothers and sisters and one dog, Snowball. I loved to read, but had absolutely no inkling that I could grow up to be a writer. I thought all writers had triple names, like my favorite, Maud Hart Lovelace, and that they had entire books waiting in their heads, and simply wrote them down, lickety-split.
I always knew I wanted to work with children, so I got a B.A. in education from Chicago Teacher’s College. After graduation, I moved to New York City. My great good fortune came when I met Ezra Jack Keats (author-artist of THE SNOWY DAY), who told me about an editorial assistant’s opening in the children’s book department of Harper & Row. I was hired, and for ten years I worked with two of the most brilliant editors in publishing: Ursula Nordstrom and Charlotte Zolotow.
After becoming a junior editor, I soon had the great pleasure of discovering new talent: I did Bruce Degan’s first book, AUNT POSSOM AND THE PUMPKIN MAN, Myron Levoy’s classic, ALAN AND NAOMI, and I also worked with Lillian Hoban on her first Arthur books.
It was Charlotte Zolotow who urged me to write my own stories, and my first book BABY (later titled BABY, COME OUT!) was published in 1972. Since then I’ve written many many books, but no thrill has ever matched that moment when I became a writer.
Because I was such a late bloomer, I am always eager to help children recognize and appreciate their gifts and begin using them NOW. When I speak at schools, I show children my messy manuscripts, the artist’s many sketches, and talk about how much stubbornness and good humor it takes to accomplish anything in life, including writing.”
Lauren Tobia was born in Bristol and have been there longer than Concord. She doesn’t’ have a personal website that we could find, but here is some information we found from the Walker Books website:
” When I was small I would always ask for felt pens and paper for Christmas. For a short while we lived on a boat in Cornwall and my bed was in the wheel house. I could look out for miles over a huge and exciting estuary full of seabirds, interesting worms, a few scary swans and a goat that did not like me much. Although I spent much of my childhood in the city, I still got to roam a lot as a child and spent a lot of time looking at things under stones.To this day I would much prefer to draw a picture of something than write about it.
As an adult I spent many years working as an intensive care nurse in Bristol but when my children grew up I thought it was time for me to follow my dream. I went to the University of West England (U.W.E) and joined their amazing illustration course where I had the chance to learn, experiment and have a lot of fun. I live in a tiny house in south Bristol with my husband and our two unruly Jack Russell rescue dogs. When I am not drawing I am at my allotment. I have a little table and a patch of lawn where I can sit and drink tea when I should be weeding.
As an artist I draw all the time and never go anywhere without my sketchbook. I feel uncomfortable without it. I mostly draw in pencil for speed and flexibility. I get much of my inspiration from the people and places around me. I draw my family continuously and objects that I come across, from teapots to crisp packets. I love to draw animals and use them to imply human emotion and body language. Although I enjoy painting with watercolour, I work in my sketchbook most of the time and use a computer to arrange and add colour and textures to the images, which I find gives me freedom to play and experiment.”
Things you didn’t know about Lauren Tobia
- I am happily Dyslexic
- My dogs’ names are Poppy and Tilly.
- I can’t drive a car.
- I have two daughters who are very clever and wonderful (they will probably tell me off about this).
- On sunny days hot air balloons drift past my window.
- I really like cake.
- My favorite sandwich as a child was sausage and marmalade.
- I almost always wear odd socks.
- One of my favorite books as a child was a dog’s medical dictionary.
- I used to have a cat that liked to be hoovered.