Customer Reviews

Call Me Black Call Me Beautiful

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Highly recommended for day-care centers and early-learning centers for story-time. Very helpful to all children especially bi-racial and foreign nationals. Also a great start for the younger children--they understand everything!!!
Dr. Henderson..... "you go, girl"

"Well, honey, you are black." Richard looks down at his hands and arms and says matter-of-factly, "No I'm not. I'm brown."

The social construct of race is a concept ambiguous to many adults, and can be incomprehensible to young children, particularly those of color. Able to accurately identify the Crayola colors in their environment, African American youth are often bewildered when their own chestnut/walnut/pecan/ebony/beige/mahogany/red skin tones are universally referred to as "black". And in a society that typically assigns negative connotations to the word "black", racial identity becomes even more problematic.

Call me Black Call me Beautiful addresses the question of racial identity through Richard, a young African American boy. As the story begins, Richard is portrayed as a happy child with a multiethnic array of peers, both on the soccer field and in the classroom. When Richard's demeanor turns sullen, his concerned mother prods her son for an explanation. It is then that Richard reveals that a white friend, Max, has called him "black", a label perplexing to Richard as he stares at his hands and arms, which are clearly brown to him.

In simple yet poignant terms, Richard's mother first affirms her son's observations: "You are my caramel brown baby, Daddy is smooth, dark chocolate brown, and I am honey brown." She then explains that "black" and "white" are merely terms to describe groups of people. The story's themes of self love and appreciation for others resound in the mother's advice to Richard: "So the next time Max calls you black, smile at him with joy. Explain to him that despite your different skin colors, you are both absolutely beautiful!"

Central to the story are Jennifer C. Kindert's bold and colorful watercolor illustrations. The characters' skin tones and facial and body features capture the wide array physical characteristics within the African American family. Also captured visually is the ambiguity of race. Indeed, white Max's beige skin tone and facial features closely resemble those of Richard's black great-grandmother, Dorothy. Detailed and synchronized to the plot, the illustrations compliment the text both nicely and appropriately.

Children of all ages will benefit from this book, as will parents, teachers, and librarians. The straightforward and conversational writing style allows for easy understanding by all readers. Call Me Black Call Me Beautiful fills a much-needed place in multicultural children's literature. Dr. Henderson translates potentially difficult concepts in a style that is simple and joyful.

I can attest (both professionally and personally) to the many obstacles parents of color face in raising healthy children. The reallity is that there are specific challenges parents of color face in nurturing and guiding our children on a path to success that mainstream children's books simply do not address. Call Me Black Call Me Beautiful makes a vital contribution to children's literature and is an effort that is long overdue.

My 2 year old daughter calls this book: "Richard." She loves it. She is just 2 years old, and yet, in this multi-cultural world that we live in, she gravitates towards this book.

Can she articulate her vision of race in the world around her? no. Can she have friends of different races, and still be aware that she is black? Yes.

This book helps her do so.

And we gladly read it over and over and over, any time she asks for "richard."