Book Review: All the Colors of the Earth

All the Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka reinforces the idea that people are many shades of brown, using natural imagery to reinforce positive skin perceptions.

"For love comes in cinnamon, walnut, and wheat..."

The prose is poetic and bouncy, full of many positive representations of children and families. Because this book short and the images are engaging, it would make an excellent beginning of the year book when you introduce skin color pencils. On the other hand, it's a great book to have on hand in case students make comments about someone being "black" or "white" in order to offer them other skin descriptors. Many of the words used for skin are excellent opportunities for expanding vocabulary and the entire book is set in many shade of brown.