You Be Me I'll Be You

Anna, daughter of biracial parents, comes to her father with a sad face and shares with him that she does not like how she looks. She wants to look more like her father, a man with a "pale face." She is not happy to have brown skin and she is not happy to have her braided hair. Her father hears her pain and with the greatest empathy, takes her into the kitchen where together they proceed to create coffee milk, to paint his face brown and to make his straight hair curly with braids. They decide together that she will flour her face and then wear his hat. He will be her and she will pretend to be him. Along the way, they see all sorts of reminders of how each one of us has some difficulty accepting ourselves as nature created us. Women are in the beauty parlor curling and straightening their hair and folks head to the tanning booth to darken their skin tones. The illustrations, done in a muted collage, keep a gentle, even feel to the poignant and powerful issues explored here. This is a great read aloud for encouraging acceptance of others and of ourselves. Everyone came in just the right package and thank goodness they are not all the same. Ages 4-8 34 pages