Happy in Our Skin

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 ReviewsHappy 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 OnlineA delightful feel-good story.—School Library Journal

Fran Manushkin is the author of many books, including the Katie Woo series, Baby, Come Out!, How Mama Brought the Spring, The Tushy Book and The Belly Book. Fran was an editor at Harper & Row and worked with Ursula Nordstrom and Charlotte Zolotow. She lives in New York City.

Lauren Tobia graduated from the University of the West of England with a degree in Illustration and was highly commended in the Macmillan Children’s Book Prize. She is the illustrator of Baby’s Got the Blues, by Carol Diggory Shields, and the highly successful Anna Hibiscus picture books, written by Atinuke. Lauren lives in Bristol with her husband and their two Jack Russell terriers, Poppy and Tilly.