Black Is Brown Is Tan - ISBNLookup.com

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature

"Black is Brown is Tan" is a beautifully written poem by Arnold Adoff. First published in 1973, this delightful story marked the first acknowledgment of an interracial family in children's book publishing. With an African American mother, the skin color of chocolate, and a Caucasian father, who's skin is not white, but light in color with tans and pinks and all the colors of the rainbow, this story blends colors in such a way that the beauty of this family truly shines through. The two children, one light, one darker, exude the beauty of both parents. This book comes a long way in making a point of the unimportance of skin color. Right on the first page, the author says "black is brown is tan, is girl, is boy, is nose, is face." Skin is merely one of many descriptive elements of a person, an individual; and the author is like a composer with his descriptions. Their utter happiness and the comfort of their daily routine are no different from any other family. It is a joyous occasion to see a book that shows such wonderful harmony and acceptance in the hopes that it will bring those feelings to those who read it. A delightful book, well worth reading with your children in the hopes that they, too, will see color as merely that. 2002 (orig. 1973), HarperCollins Publishers,
— Emily Cook

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3-A beautiful picture of an interracial home in which there is fun, security, and plenty of love. The text was first published in 1973 and remains the same. Members from both sides of the extended family come for visits. One of the lovely scenes shows "granny white" and "grandma black" arriving at the same time and then sitting congenially with the children "telling stories of ago." McCully has updated the illustrations with watercolor paintings to show the brown-skinned momma, the white daddy, and the two children in a 21st-century setting. For example, the earlier edition showed the father and son sitting in front of a typewriter, while in the updated version they are sitting in the same position, but the typewriter has been replaced by a computer. Children from interracial families will love reading about a family like their own and other youngsters will be provided with a window into such a home.-Dorothy N. Bowen, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The author and illustrator of this groundbreaking 1973 portrait of an interracial family (Adoff and his wife, the late Virginia Hamilton, were the models) reunite for this updated overhaul. "Black is brown is tan / is girl is boy / is nose is / face / is all / the / colors / of the race . . ." Two children reflect on brown and white as they cover a daily domestic round, from jumping into the parental bed in the morning to "singing songs / in / singing night" on a moonlit porch, conveying in each verse a consciousness of color, but a far stronger sense of family closeness. The illustrations follow suit, showing the children with parents, grandparents, and relatives, working, playing, being together. And just as Adoff has reshaped the lines without changing the words, so McCully has plainly worked from her originals in placing and posing her figures, though the pictures are redone in a larger size, the family lives in a different house with modern details, and the father is now blond. As the number of interracial families goes up but their representation in picture books remains vanishingly slight, this fresh rendition still makes a cogent statement. (Picture book/poetry. 4-7)