Shades of People

by Shelley Rotner, Sheila M. Kelly

Overview

Cocoa, tan, rose, and almond—people come in lots of shades, even in the same family.

A perfect resource for starting conversations about race with young children, Shades of People celebrates the diversity of everyday life. This beautiful picture book and its board book edition, All Kinds of People, pair simple text and vibrant photographs to explore one of our most notable physical traits.

At school, at the beach, and in the city, diverse groups of children invite young readers both to take notice and to look beyond the obvious. Combining lively action shots and candid portraits, Shelley Rotner's photographs showcase a wide variety of kids and families—many shades, and many bright smiles.

For even younger readers, this title has also been adapted as a board book, All Kinds of People.

An ALA Notable Book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823421916
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	09/15/2009
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,091,430
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Sheila M. Kelly is an author and clinical psychologist who has collaborated on numerous books with Shelley Rotner, including Families and I'm Adopted!

Shelley Rotner is the author and photo-illustrator of more than thirty books, including Grow! Raise! Catch! How We Get Our Food. Her collaborations with Sheila M. Kelly include Yummy! Good Food Makes Me Strong, a National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Book, and Shades of People, an ALA Notable Children's Book. She lives in Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

"The message is clear and to the point . . . A good introduction to racial and ethnic diversity."—School Library Journal

"A heartwarming effort that teachers and families can embrace."—Kirkus Reviews

"Beautiful. . . . This will enrich and spark discussions of diversity."—Booklist

"This is a feel-good book for everyone."—Book Links

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 1—This book is filled with wonderful photographs of happy, smiling, inquisitive, trusting, and adorable children—all with varying skin tones, hair colors and textures, and facial features. "Have you noticed that people come in many different shades?" is the opening sentence, accompanied by framed head shots of youngsters. It is followed on the next page by, "Not colors, exactly, but shades." The text is minimal, with approximately 3 to 10 words per page. The last page features a large photograph of eight little hands of varying shades. The message is clear and to the point: "Our skin is just our covering, like wrapping paper. And, you can't tell what someone is like from the color of their skin." A good introduction to racial and ethnic diversity.—Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH

School Library Journal

Author and photographer join forces again in this photographic essay on skin color. Having previously tackled family members, feelings and faiths (May Ways: How Families Practice Their Beliefs and Religions, 2006, etc.), they now showcase-in full color-many smiling, appealing, friendly, loving, creative, thoughtful, hugging, eye-catching young ones. The connection, rather than the difference, is that all these children are many different shades, "not colors, exactly . . . . / There's creamy, ivory, / sandy and peach, / coffee, cocoa, / copper and tan." And all of this is "our covering, like wrapping paper." The authors take care to state explicitly that "you can't tell what someone is like from the color of their skin." Children of many different ethnicities are here, sometimes in the same family. It's a heartwarming effort that teachers and families can embrace and will doubtless find its way into many a curriculum on celebrating difference. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews