“The skin I’m in is just a covering. It cannot tell my story.” Simple, profound, and provocative, bell hooks’s narrative is an invitation to children to let go of what they think they know about one another because of skin color. Instead, she challenges them to meet one another on ground that is real: “Be with me inside the me of me . . . You can find out all about me – coming close and letting go of who you might think I am.” Chris Raschka’s stimulating visual interpretation of hooks’s text includes an onion motif, image after image suggesting that there is much is going on inside each individual, exciting discoveries to be made. There is a celebratory look and feel to this joyful volume. (Ages 5–10)

From legendary author and critic bell hooks and multi-Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka comes a new way to talk about race and identity that will appeal to parents of the youngest readers.
The skin I'm in is just a covering. It cannot tell my story. If you want to know who I am, you have got to come inside and open your heart way wide.

Race matters, but only so much--what's most important is who we are on the inside. Looking beyond skin, going straight to the heart, we find in each other the treasures stored down deep. Learning to cherish those treasures, to be all we imagine ourselves to be, makes us free.

This award-winning book, celebrates all that makes us unique and different and offers a strong, timely and timeless message of loving yourself and others.