Introducing an empowering read celebrating self-acceptance and the beauty of Brown, featured in the MaiStoryBook Library Collection:

“I am Brown” by Ashok Banker and Sandhya Prabhat

*~Click here to purchase your own copy of “I Am Brown” to start on your own reading adventure! (This is an affiliate link~ 5% of your purchase will go to MaiStoryBook to help create Reading Resources for your littles)~

Book Synopsis and Review

This book is a colorful, bright, and joyful representation of children of color! It is a sweet collection of identities, an ode to diverse representation, and a celebration of cultural differences. Each page is filled with the possibilities of who you can be and who you are: From I am brown, amazing, and you~ to I am love, happiness, and friendship. Through a portrayal of diverse interests, hobbies, careers, languages, clothing, cuisine, religion, and more, this read empowers all littles to believe in themselves and to reach for their dreams!

The illustrations in this book are absolutely gorgeous. The full spread pictures are bursts of vibrant color, enrapturing lively scenes of children playing, learning, living, growing, and loving. Each page is filled with detail and life, highlighting each figure’s unique disposition, helping littles to envision themselves as one of the unique characters on the page. I love the diverse representation in this book. Littles need to see themselves in literature and media. We learn from what we connect with, and notice, whether subconsciously or not, when we are excluded or absent from representation. Here is a book that celebrates the beauty of Brown, and encourages littles to truly believe that *you are amazing for just being YOU.*

Vocabulary

• lawyer (p. 5) a person who helps convince people who is right and wrong; someone who helps people understand the law
• electrician (p. 6) someone who helps fix electric machines and works with electricity
• mansion (p. 16) a humongous house with a lot of rooms
• apartment (p. 16) a building with a lot of smaller groups of rooms for many different families to live in
• guru (p. 24) someone who helps people live a better life

Themes/ Main Ideas

• You are amazing and unique just the way you are. Celebrate all the amazing things you are and can be.
• Brown is beautiful. Be confident and happy in your own skin.

YouTube Video: Guided Shared-Reading Read Aloud Example

Example of a shared-reading, interactive Read Aloud of “I am Brown” – how to subtly introduce the vocabulary list words within the text, ask guided questions, and spark conversation!

*~Check it Out~*

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I AM Identity Pinwheel Craftivity

Growing up, one of mai favorite books was about a little girl and her mom going to the grocery store and filling their cart with 10 items or fewer. The characters: all blonde and white. Another favorite was about a girl and her encounter with a tooth fairy. The characters: all white. Thinking back to mai childhood read alouds, I don’t vividly remember any favorite read with children of color. Today, while there is still disparity in the diverse representation in children’s literature, there are significantly more published titles for littles now than when I was younger. There is still much to be done to diversify the publishing industry in general, but amplifying Black voices and authors and illustrators of colors, sharing their work, and highlighting their stories is one way to help expose children to characters that they can identify with, that look like them, or that represent a diverse range of cultures and identities. “I am Brown” is a book I would definitely have loved as a child- to see characters that look like me so beautifully illustrated on the pages. Share this read to empower children to cherish and celebrate the skin their in. After reading, encourage them to create this craft to record and share what makes them unique, beautiful, and amazing!

Materials

• I AM Identity Pinwheel Template
• Glue/ Tape
• Scissors
• Colors: crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc
• Pen/Pencil
• Paper Fastener/ Pipe Cleaner

Directions:

• Print out the “I Am” Top Wheel. Cut it out, and then cut out the lined-trapezoid where it says “cut” to create a gap in the wheel. 
• On the line, write your skin color (like the title of the book: I am Brown). Color in the wheel and the hands on the side.
• Cut out a head and choose a hair style that looks like yours to cut out and glue on. (You can also design and cut out your own hairstyle).  Color it in to make the figure look like you.
• Glue the head  to the top of the neck on the “Top Wheel”

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• Choose a Bottom Wheel Template. Options include: Prompt and Picture only, Prompt and Lines for writing only, Prompt with picture space and line for writing
• Fill in the prompts about yourself by drawing a picture or writing. The prompts match the text in the book “I am Brown”
• Notes for the prompts:
• “I am a”: draw or write one way to identify yourself ( artist, a reader, a scientist, etc.)
• “I come from”: Where in the world do your ancestors come from, or where do you live
• “I speak”: What languages do you speak?
• “I have”: identify a physical feature (brown eyes, black hair, curly hair, no hair, etc)
• “I live in”: What kind of building do you live in (house, apartment, cottage, house boat)
• “I like to “ : What are some activities you like to do
• “I eat”: What is your favorite dish
• “I wear” What is your favorite outfit
• “I can” what are some things you know how to do ( draw, write, build, computer code)
• “I am your” : What relationships do you have to other people (sister, friend, student, teacher, cousin)
• Cut out the Bottom Wheel.

• Line up the bottom wheel beneath the top wheel by lining up the two small black dots and use a paper fastener or small segment of pipe cleaner to push through the black dot in the center and fasten the two wheels together. 
• Spin the wheel to share facts about You!

How to Use Your *I AM Identity Pinwheel* Craftivity

• Spin you pinwheel to remind your self of all the ways and things that make you amazing!
• Share your pinwheel with a family member or friend and share with them about what makes you unique.
• Share your pinwheel with a family member or friend and ask them to share the same facts about them
• Re-read the book “I Am Brown” with your pinwheel and share amazing facts about yourself to match with the pages

*~Overall, as always, I hope you all are staying safe, staying healthy, and supporting each other through these times! Tag me on Instagram @MaiStoryBookLibrary, Twitter @MaiStoryBook  – post on FaceBook – or contact me via email to share your own *I AM Pinwheels* and your own reading adventures! I’d love to hear from you !~*

*~Until next time, Happy Reading~*