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Tan to Tamarind: Poems About the Color Brown

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Tan to Tamarind: Poems About the Color Brown

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$11.95

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Overview

A poetry collection that explores the spectrum of beautiful shades of brown.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Tan, sienna, topaz, or tamarind? Poet Malathi Michelle Iyengar sees a whole spectrum of beautiful shades of brown. Swirls of henna decorate ocher hands and feet at an Indian wedding. Cinnamon lips smile over a cup of café con leche. And maple leaves drift like stars onto upturned russet faces in fall.

This warm and inviting poetry collection helps young readers discover that no matter what your skin tone, every shade is beautiful. Jamel Akib's pastel illustrations bring the richness of brown to vivid, varied life.

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780892394128
Publisher:	Lee & Low Books
Publication date:	01/15/2017
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 9.75(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	6 - 11 Years

About the Author

Malathi Iyengar is a poet, writer, and teacher. She currently teaches at a public elementary school where she is happy to see lots of beautiful brown faces every day. Malathi lives in Los Angeles, California.

Jamel Akib is an award-winning illustrator whose work has appeared in several picture books as well as in numerous museum and gallery shows in England, including several Best of British Illustration exhibitions. A full-time illustrator of English and Malaysian ancestry, Akib now lives with his family in Salisbury, England.

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Editorial Reviews

"This exploration of the diversity within the spectrum of brown is a lovely tribute to the color." -- School Library Journal

"Brown is beautiful in all its shades of skin color and in what children see, feel, taste, smell, and touch everywhere. . . The joyful graphic details range from the ocher-brown mehendi design on an Indian bride's hands to an adobe home on the windswept desert. In a note, Iyengar remembers hating her brown skin as a child; her book shows how lucky she feels now." -- Booklist

"A joyful celebration of all sorts of brown-tinted skin colors." -- The Bloomsbury Review

"Iyengar's poetry trickles down in sweetness like golden brown honey in the sunlight and makes it clear, without protest, that brown is simply beautiful." -- Paper Tigers
Américas Award Commended Title - Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 2
Fifteen poems celebrate many shades of brown. Words that conjure up smells, sights, sounds, tastes, and textures create imagery that helps to bring the hues to life. "A mug of hot chocolate,/smooth and creamy brown./Tasty, toasty brown./Delightful, delectable brown." Spreads done in pastels are rich, warm, and inviting, but often fail to highlight the featured poem's shade of brown, some of which may be unfamiliar to youngsters. The final selection calls attention to the many shades of skin tones, eyes, and hair. This exploration of the diversity within the spectrum of brown is a lovely tribute to the color. An author's note briefly describes how Iyengar learned to love and value the color of her own skin.-Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

School Library Journal

Helping ethnic children find the beauty in themselves is the goal of Iyengar's celebratory cycle, which venerates various hues of brown in each poem. The brown association pulls the poems together, and each begins with the same basic three-line stanza: "Brown. / Ocher brown. / Vivid orange-brown"; "Brown. / Tamarind brown. / Deep purplish-blackish brown." Unfortunately, the poems do little to evoke feelings or establish connections. The limited vocabulary within each makes readers feel as though they are reading the same basic poem; given that the theme is obvious, the use of the word "brown" 125 times results in a metronomic uniformity, sometimes to the point of meaninglessness (just what is "rapid spruce brown"?). Akib's illustrations do not help, as the characters lack ethnic specificity, with only some variations in dress and hair texture. The collection's high point is the closing poem, "Brown," which offers readers pace, variation, rhythm and emotion. Undoubtedly well-intentioned, this effort falls regrettably flat. (Picture book/poetry. 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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