Title: Happy in Our Skin

Author: Fran Manushkin

Illustrator: Lauren Tobia

Publisher: Candlewick Press 2015

Number of pages: 32 pages

Tags: Diversity, Culture, Picture Book, K-1, Stephanie Prentice

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Analysis

Happy in Our Skin is a book that discusses the many differences that children have, while showing that we should be proud of our differences. It shows a family of mixed ethnicities going to the park, the pool, and a block party.

In all these scenes, the author shows how everybody is the same regardless of what they look like. The similarities and differences discussed in this book aim to show that even though someone’s skin may look different, it is the same in reality. For example, the author discusses the function of skin as “keeping the outsides out and the insides in” (Manushkin, p. 8). Serving as a window, the diversity in this book allows children of many different ethnicities to relate. It also allows children to reflect on their own personal attributes and find similarities and differences that make them unique. The illustrator incorporates children of many different ethnicities and cultures to emphasize the author’s main idea that each child has the same skin regardless of it’s color or other features. They also include illustrations of children in wheelchairs.

Structurally the book includes a slight rhyming scheme that allows for fluent reading. The text is important, but the location of the words on the page is not relevant. The images are very vibrant and bright. The images often reinforce the ideas presented in the text, and sometimes act as an enhancement. They show the diversity in skin color and features as well as the physical abilities that are discussed in the text. This book allows for children to see that each person has the same physical feature, skin. It teaches them the importance of skin and how it helps our body. This allows for an easy opportunity for educators or parents to have discussions about race. It teaches the importance of tolerance and acceptance of others who may look different.  The illustrations radiate the idea of acceptance, as we see children of all ethnicities and cultures interacting in public places.