Arnold Adoff is an insider to the world of interracial marriage. This might be why he did such a wonderful job in writing this picture book about a biracial family. Arnold Adoff and author Virginia Hamilton were married in 1960. He is a white man and she is a black woman and they had two children. Since their marriage was during the time of segregation laws, their marriage was a violation of these restrictions (Adoff 2001). The two lived in a town in Ohio that was moving towards becoming culturally and racially diverseed. He has created this story in honor of diversity literature (Adoff 2001). Due to this, the book is very dear to his heart and based off of his family.
The book fantastically shows how biracial families are just like any other family in society. They tell bed time stories, the kids get yelled at by parents, they all play and tickle each other, and give big hugs and kisses to each other. Also the illustrations by Emily Arnold McCully create an image that gives students a life-like experience of what a biracial family looks like. It shoes the students that besides the skin color they are the same. Another key part of the book is explaining how the children are both black and white. Adoff uses the example of chocolate milk and the snow in the wintertime. For example, in the book it says “I am black I am brown…the milk is chocolate brown…I am the color of the milk” (Adoff 2001). Then it says, “I am white…the milk is white, I am not the color of the milk…”(Adoff 2001). These quotes show how a person can be two different races, but not look like it on the outside. With the clear, detailed text descriptions and elaborate pictures, this is definitely a book children of biracial families can relate to and children who are not can understand that type of family. Black is Brown is Tan is a must have in my book collection as a future teacher and parent.
The book fantastically shows how biracial families are just like any other family in society. They tell bed time stories, the kids get yelled at by parents, they all play and tickle each other, and give big hugs and kisses to each other. Also the illustrations by Emily Arnold McCully create an image that gives students a life-like experience of what a biracial family looks like. It shoes the students that besides the skin color they are the same. Another key part of the book is explaining how the children are both black and white. Adoff uses the example of chocolate milk and the snow in the wintertime. For example, in the book it says “I am black I am brown…the milk is chocolate brown…I am the color of the milk” (Adoff 2001). Then it says, “I am white…the milk is white, I am not the color of the milk…”(Adoff 2001). These quotes show how a person can be two different races, but not look like it on the outside. With the clear, detailed text descriptions and elaborate pictures, this is definitely a book children of biracial families can relate to and children who are not can understand that type of family. Black is Brown is Tan is a must have in my book collection as a future teacher and parent.
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1 comment:
My favorite Adoff book is All the Colors of the Race. It's poems about a girl's experience as black and white --my favorite poem is called Sum People.
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