The Colors Of Us- Multicultural

Summary: This is book by Karen Katz, is about a  seven-year-old little girl named Lena who wanted to paint a picture of herself, she wanted to use the color brown paint for her skin, but when her mom takes her through their neighborhood, Lena then learns that the color brown comes in all different shades and not just one. 

The genre of this book is multicultural, throughout this book it shows how different each and every person was in Lena's neighborhood. From Lena's mother taking her throughout their neighborhood showing her just how many shades people come in to Lena learning to accept the diversity of everyone.

The illustration by Karen Katz is filled with vibrant water colors.  The style of art throughout the book is impressionistic art, it shows the impression of how realistic the characters could really be. 

Personal Comments: I think this book is amazing! It shows how we are all different and beautiful at the same time. 

Motivational Activities: 

• An activity that would be perfect for this book would be to give the students an numerous crayon colors and asked them to draw a potrait of themselves, and when they are done discuss how beautiful each person is in each shade and color. 
•  Another activity would be to let the students make a booklet about themseleves and the neigborhood they live in. 

Reader's Repsonse Questions:

1. Why does Lena's mother take her to so many places in their neighborhood?

2. Why does Lena say to her mother “Look Mom, the colors of us?

References

Katz, K. (2013). The colors of us. Columbus, O.H.: Zaner-Bloser.