Happy in Our Skin

by Fran Manushkin, Lauren Tobia (Illustrator)

Overview

Is there anything more splendid than a baby’s skin? For families of all stripes comes a sweet celebration of what makes us unique—and what holds us together.

Look at you!
You look so cute
in your brand-new birthday suit.

Just savor these bouquets of babies—cocoa-brown, cinnamon, peaches and cream. As they grow, their clever skin does too, enjoying hugs and tickles, protecting them inside and out, and making them one of a kind. Fran Manushkin’s rollicking text and Lauren Tobia’s delicious illustrations paint a breezy and irresistible picture of the human family—and how wonderful it is to be just who you are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763670023
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	08/25/2015
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	148,490
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD540L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Fran Manushkin is the author of more than fifty books for children, including the Katie Woo series and Baby, Come Out!, illustrated by Ronald Himler and translated into eight languages. She lives in New York City.

Lauren Tobia is the illustrator of several books for children, including the Anna Hibiscus books, written by Atinuke, and Baby’s Got the Blues by Carol Diggory Shields. She lives in a tiny house in Bristol, England.

Editorial Reviews

★ 06/01/2015
Manushkin (The Belly Book) offers a cheeky meditation on the everyday miraculousness of skin, with a biracial family at the center of her story. “It’s terrific to have skin,” she muses. “It keeps the outsides out/ and your insides in.” Skin is also something we all have in common, regardless of age, color, or whether it’s adorned with “freckles/ or birthmarks/ or dimples.” With plenty of sentimental books about belonging available, a fun angle on the ties that bind members of the human family is welcome; the silly-earnest premise inspires several quirky observations to keep readers intrigued, including a shout-out to scabs as “a perfect seal.” Following a light-skinned mother and her three children (who share their father’s brown skin), Tobia (Baby’s Got the Blues) creates an expansive, multicultural cast of urbanites enjoying themselves at a park, at the public pool, and at a boisterous block party. It’s freewheeling fun—a perfect book for the months when we all try to wear as little as possible. Ages 2–5. Author’s agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Mandy Suhr, Miles Stott Children’s Literary Agency. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

06/01/2015
PreS—In this picture book for young children, Manushkin celebrates the different aspects of skin. It has many tones, from "cocoa brown," to "peaches and cream," and sometimes distinguishing features like freckles, birthmarks, or dimples. Skin "keeps the outsides out/and your insides in," scabs over wounds, tans in sun, and exhibits goose pimples in cold. While the brief rhyming text is occasionally strained, the large illustrations, executed in ink and pencil and digitally arranged, depict a mixed-race family as they interact with a delightful array of diverse babies, preschoolers, and their parents in their urban neighborhood. Adults kiss baby feet, hold little ones aloft, and snuggle with them. The park and neighborhood scenes include a girl in a wheelchair and Muslim and Orthodox Jewish families enjoying themselves outdoors. Among many humorous touches is a scene in which two youngsters display their paintings while readers see all the paint on the floor and walls and a dog streaking paint as it runs off with a brush. The story comes full circle, beginning with a baby, happy in its "brand-new" skin, and ending with parents and tired children, all "happy in [their] skin," coming home after celebrating with "bouquets of people" at a block party. VERDICT A delightful feel-good story that will be welcome in most collections.—Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Greenwich, CT

School Library Journal

2015-05-12
More than skin deep, this rhyming paean to diversity offers readers an array of families of all colors and orientations, living and loving one another in a vibrant city setting. A giggling baby is tummy-tickled by her white and black mothers (or white mother and black father—impressively, the illustration leaves room for interpretation) in New York's Central Park in its summertime glory. "This is how we all begin: / small and happy in our skin." This celebration of skin not only extols the beauty and value of various skin colors, but also teaches the importance of skin as an essential body part: "It keeps the outsides out / and your insides in." Park, public-pool, and block-party scenes allow readers to luxuriate in a teeming city where children of all colors, abilities, and religions enjoy their families and neighbors. The author and illustrator do not simply take a rote, tokenistic approach to answering the cry for diverse books; the words and pictures depict a much-needed, realistic representation of the statement "it takes a village to raise a child" when a child skins her knee and many rush to her aid and comfort. Though her palette of browns is a little limited, Tobia creates sheer joy with her depictions of everything from unibrows, dimples, and birthmarks to callouts to recognizable literary characters. The combination of lovingly humorous and detailed mixed-media illustrations and infectious rhymes will cause little ones and their families to pore over this book again and again. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews

With plenty of sentimental books about belonging available, a fun angle on the ties that bind members of the human family is welcome...Following a light-skinned mother and her three children (who share their father’s brown skin), Tobia (Baby’s Got the Blues) creates an expansive, multicultural cast of urbanites enjoying themselves at a park, at the public pool, and at a boisterous block party. It’s freewheeling fun—a perfect book for the months when we all try to wear as little as possible.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The combination of lovingly humorous and detailed mixed-media illustrations and infectious rhymes will cause little ones and their families to pore over this book again and again.
—Kirkus Reviews

Happy in Our Skin paints a picture of an ideal world that recognizes the value of diversity and shuns color blindness—a positive message for ears of every age and color.
—Booklist Online

A delightful feel-good story.
—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

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