Black is Brown is Tan

Arnold Adoff (1973), 32 pages

Audience: pre-K

Format: picture book

Black is Brown is Tan was the first children’s book to depict an interracial family. Mommy is “milk chocolate cheeks and hands that darken in the summer sun” and daddy is “light with pinks and tiny tans.” Adoff’s book is pure poetry and a great read-aloud book. Even though this was written back in the 1970s the author's lyrically words are still just as relevant and moving today...

black is brown is tan
is girl is boy
is nose is
face
is all
the
colors
of the race …

this is the way it is for us

this is they way we are

Reviewed by: Katharine Quinn, SJSU MLIS Student

If you liked this book, you may like: Tan to Tamarind: Poems About the Color Brown by Malathi Michelle Iyengar and Black, White, Just Right! By Marguerite W. Davol

Other books by this author: Love Letters and Touch the Poem