You Be Me, I'll Be You Book

Anna, the interracial child of a white father and black mother, explores questions and yearnings she has about her identity by "switching" skin-colors with her father. With wit, compassion and a very light and non-didactic hand, this book examines issues of concern not only to interracial children, but to all children who have ever worried about their diferences. Full-color illustrations.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-- Anna, the child of a biracial couple, doesn't like her curly hair or dark skin. Her father insists he has never liked his pale skin and straight hair, and that he wishes he could be darker, like Anna. The child and father then ``trade colors'' by using coffee ground to darken his face and flour to lighten hers. The two then go out to meet Anna's mother, who is not especially pleased with their appearances. The fact that the father denigrates his physical characteristics in an attempt to solve the problem does not present a positive approach to Anna's concerns. The earth-tone illustration makes the child look unrealistically like one of her rag dolls, while her father has well-delineated features. Books such as Arnold Adoff's Black Is Brown Is Tan (Harper, 1973) and All the Colors of the Race (Lothrop, 1982) celebrate diversity without compromising any race. Hoffman's Nancy No-Size (1987) and Bradman's Wait and See (1988, both Oxford) also portray biracial families in a positive multicultural context. Although Mandelbaum deserves credit for attempting to address this issue, this Belgian import needn't have made the Atlantic crossing. --Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI