Children’s Book Review: Shades Of Black

As a transracial, adoptive parent, there are many things my husband and I can share with our son, The Littlest E, unconditional love, nurturing, caring, etc.  We can teach him compassion, empathy, how to be a good, loving person, and what we know about life.  We can share with him our hobbies and joys, and the usual everyday things parents share, teach and show their children.  One thing we can’t share with him is our ethnic background.  We are Caucasian and our son is African-American, and originally from Ethiopia.

Both my husband and I feel it is important to provide our son with as many opportunities as possible to develop a positive, strong sense of self.  He is enrolled in a wonderful preschool where the staff and his classmates are racially diverse.  We are part of an Ethiopian adoptive community where he can be around other families just like ours.  We also have a racially diverse mix of friends.  Another way our son can find identification is through reading.

A terrific book that my husband bought for our toddler and, coincidentally, a friend recommended is Shades Of Black A Celebration Of Our Children by Sandra L. Pinkney.  I highly recommend it for adoptive families who will find such a book useful, for African-American families, and transracial families.  It’s a board book that is divided into three sections, one illustrates various skin tones, one emphasizes different types of hair, and one shows eye color, all feature photos of African-American children.  Each section is beautifully descriptive with images of children with whom children reading the book can relate.  At the beginning of each section are the sentences, “I am Black.  I am Unique.”

As I read the book to The Littlest E for the first time, he sat there, eyes transfixed while I turned each page.  We read through the book a few times and he then started to repeat the phrases, “I am Back.  I am Oonique.”  Watching him identify with the children on the pages and hearing those words gave me goose bumps.  I know his identification may not be at a deep level, yet he sees the children in the book and he knows he looks like them.

We go through each section looking at pictures trying to figure out if he’s more like the “smooth brown in a chocolate bar” or “coppery brown in a pretzel.”  He knows his eyes are “ebony” like “Onyx.”  This book provides such an easy, accessible way for identification; it’s totally relatable.  My friend, who told me about Shades Of Black, said that she and her sons had fun looking at the pictures also trying to figure out what they connected to most.

I am very grateful for this invaluable book and others like it.  As our son gets older and we happen upon other books that impact The Littlest E, the way Shades of Black has, I’ll be sure to write about it.

Image: AfroDad (Duane Brayboy)