Brown Sugar Babe

December 23, 2019
When a brown-skinned child proclaims that their skin color is pink, their mother rejoins with a rhyming poem that celebrates the beauty of brown in myriad forms: “Bubbling brown sugar babe/ honeyed and bright as marmalade.” While some of the imagery is less effective than others (“Brown smells like pinecones and mulberry bush/ woodchips, coffee beans,/ and purple asparagus”), the text overall provides a creative and uplifting celebration of brownness, from “feet/ marching for/ human rights” to “a sand dollar glinting/ on the beach in winter” and “pancakes and syrup/ and caramel and spice.” Warm digital spreads by Akem, in her picture book debut, extend the poem’s messages with stippled, textured digital backgrounds in wide-ranging shades of brown. An author’s note from Sherman (Touch for adults) offers insight into her motivation for writing the book, as well as historical references to landmark studies that have underscored institutional racism’s profound damage to children’s self-esteem. Ages 4–8. Illustrator’s agent: Michelle Witte, Mansion Street Literary Management.

December 15, 2019
A caregiver responds to a child's misgivings about being brown skinned by extolling the beauty of being a "brown sugar babe." Brown feet in toe shoes step over lion paw prints; a silhouetted figure wears a large Afro. An adult addresses a child: "When you were born, it was dark / behind your sleeping eyes." Soon after discovering "a world of color," the child declares, "I'm pink," and resists when the adult responds, "You're brown like me." The adult then lavishes upon the child--and readers--an almost dizzying number of endearing, beautiful, and often unusual expressions of what brown means. Brown is silent, like "tree rings that tell time," or loud, like "the squeal of a violin." Brown is accomplishments, like "a tutu and ballet slippers / poised to take flight," and brown is affection, like "an after-bedtime-story / kiss goodnight." Brown "has its own special flavor," feel, smell, and sound. Warm images of children and loving adults in gold and dark browns hues complement the rhyming, poetic text, which is set in a large type that emulates hand printing. Perfect for responding to or preventing the feelings of inadequacy that too often plague brown-skinned children, this book begs to be shared as a read-aloud with cuddles. Soul food. (Picture book. 3-9)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.