Product Review: Shades of People {Hardcover} (Ages 2 to 5)
Cocoa, tan, rose, and almond-people come in lots of shades, even in the same family.
I have recently been on a little multicultural and ethnic product kick for Brooke buying multicultural crayons, a toddler friendly world map and was on the hunt for a perfect multicultural and ethnic children’s book. I was very pleased to discover the wonderful introductory book for toddlers on our world’s racial and ethnic diversity. Shades of People is a very special book for our youngest beginning readers to show them that people come in all different shades and that is something to celebrate.
If the vibrant color of the shades of children’s pictures doesn’t make you fall in love with this book, the simple yet powerful wording will have to do it. The first two sentences are about noticing that people come in many different shades. Not colors, exactly, but shades. To the very dark to the very light, our skin is like our covering that is like a present. You can’t tell what is inside from what you see on our outside. The pictures of all varieties of shades of children playing, laughing, touching hands, hugging and talking are so lovely to see and simple to discuss. I would recommend this book for all shades of children and parents!
About Sheila M. Kelly and Shelley Rotner, Illustrator: Sheila and Shelley have collaborated on many early children’s books in addition to Shades of People. I’m Adopted is another example of a beautiful and engaging collaboration for parents and children from the duo. Sheila is a clinical psychologist in addition to an author and is a fellow Austinite. Shelley is a writer, teacher, museum educator, and extremely talented photographer from Massachusetts.
About Holiday House Publishers: Holiday House has been providing books for young people since 1935. Check out the Holiday House Free Materials for Teachers and Librarians link on their website for all their materials including this PDF for Shades of People. Suggested classroom or home activities include vocabulary, creative writing, multicultural studies and art work. Also included are additional links to online resources like detailed lesson plans about stereotypes and diversity.
List Price: $17.95 (currently $14.49 through Amazon.com)
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