Black is Brown is Tan
Name of Book: Black is Brown is Tan
Author: Arnold Adoff
Illustrator: Emily Arnold McCully
Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
Audience: Ages 5 -8
Summary: A poetic story about the everyday life in a racially mixed family.
Literary elements at work in the story: The story takes place in the family’s home and is told from both the parents point of view as well as the childrens’, at different points in the story. It shows the interaction of parents and children as well as grandparents and grandchildren, and uncles and aunts and children.
How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability make a difference to the story? Shows that racially mixed families are no different from any other family, and that family is a truly important part of life.
Scripture: Galatians 3:27-28
Theology: God looks on each one of us, regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, age or ability, with the same love, mercy and grace found in Jesus Christ.
Faith Talk Questions:
- What does this story say about family?
- Does color have anything to do with who our family is?
- What does this book say about your family?
- Does your family have different colored skin?
- Does God love people with different colored skin?
Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Mason Todd
Black is Brown is Tan by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.