TeachPeaceNow

It is not dumb skin or smart skin

or keep us apart skin;

or weak skin or strong skin,

I'm right, you're wrong skin."

Book Title The Skin that You Live In book cover

Author Michael Tyler Illustrator David Lee Csicsko Publisher Chicago Children's Museum

This title fits these categories:

Racial awareness: Shows children and families with different color skin.

Racial pride: Provides strong, positive role model for diverse children

Acceptable grade level: Preschool to grade 2

Concepts/ Topics covered in book:

This is a lively book written in a songlike style celebrating all the things we do in our skin, all the colors that it comes in, and all the wonderful things that are inside our skin that makes each of us wonderfully human.

Questions/ Activities

Before Reading: Have students gently rub one hand with another. Ask: How does your skin feel when you touch it? Write down their descriptive words. Then have children gently rub a partner's hand. Ask: How does his or her skin feel? Find words on your list that match how it feels. Say: Let's read about our skin.

After reading:

Say: Wow. Aren't we lucky to have skin! It holds in our insides and who we are, and it's so colorful! What color is your skin? Have children give names to their skin color by comparing it to delicious things like the author does - warm cocoa, chocolate chip, spun sugar, pumpkin pie (Re-read those pages it needed). Collect skin tone paint samples from a paint store or use skintone paper and have children make self-portrait faces. Then make a cartoon balloon and have child write about something he or she likes to do. (For preschoolers the teacher can take dictation.

Follow up

Re-read this book often. It's repetitious language will make it easy for children to read along.

Have children make up movements to go along with the words.

Read All the Colors We Are for a scientific explanation of skin color.

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