The
Colors of Us
About
this Book
The
Colors of Us is a multicultural book written and
illustrated by Karen Katz. Seven-year-old Lena tells her mother she is going to
paint a picture of herself. Her mother begins to show Lena how to mix different
colors together to make various shades of brown. Lena was confused and told her
mother brown was brown. Lena’s mother then took Lena for a walk in her neighborhood
to show her all the different shades of brown people could be. Lena saw her
friends and neighbors and noticed all the different shades of brown. Lena began
to compare the skin color to tasty foods and realized that there were plenty
shades of brown and they were all beautiful. Lena then painted portraits of all
the people she saw and used different shades of brown to depict their skin
color.
Genre
The
Colors of Us is a contemporary realistic fiction
picture book
The multicultural diverse neighborhood was vividly
depicted in the illustrations of various skin tones of the characters in the
book
The
Importance
This book demonstrates a multicultural and diverse
community. The book also shows the beauty in the various skin colors of every
ethnic group described in the book. The illustrations are vivid and show
everyone being happy and comfortable in their own skin.
Discussion
Questions
● Why do
you think Lena’s mother took her outside to see the different shades of the
skin color of her friends and
neighbors?
● How would
you have described Lena’s friends and neighbors skin color?
● Do you
think Lena described the skin color of everyone in the book correctly?
● Why do
you think it is important to recognize the difference in people’s skin color?
● How would
you describe your own skin color?
Activities
for Readers
● Have the
children get into pairs of 2 and mix water paints together until they match
their partner's skin color then paint their portrait
● Have the
children get into groups of 4 and have them describe the skin color of the
members in the group using foods like Lena did in the book
● Have all
the children in the class mix different shades of brown in a bowl and have the
child dip their hand in the water paint and put their handprints on a poster
showing the different shades of brown
A
Few Suggestions from Karen Katz’s Collection of Books
● No Hitting
● Can You Say Peace
● My First Ramadan
● My First Kwanzaa
● My First Chinese Year
Katz, K. (1999). The
Color of Us. New York, NY: Henry Holt & Co.
