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All the Colors We Are/Todos los colores de nuestra piel: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color/La historia de por qué tenemos diferentes colores de piel
The essential resource for 20 years!
Celebrate the essence of one way we are all special and different from one another—our skin color! This bilingual (English/Spanish) book offers children a simple, scientifically accurate explanation about how our skin color is determined by our ancestors, the sun, and melanin. It’s also filled with colorful photographs that capture the beautiful variety of skin tones. Reading this book frees children from the myths and stereotypes associated with skin color and helps them build positive identities as they accept, understand, and value our rich and diverse world. Unique activity ideas are included to help you extend the conversation with children.
Katie Kissinger, MA, is an author, activist, educator for social justice, and an early childhood education college instructor. She is founder and a board member of Threads of Justice Collective, an informal group of educators who work together to promote social and cultural justice for all children and families. Katie lives near Portland, Oregon.
Chris Bohnhoff earned a degree in English from Carleton College and then attended the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Chris takes pictures in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and beyond.
Celebrate the essence of one way we are all special and different from one another—our skin color! This bilingual (English/Spanish) book offers children a simple, scientifically accurate explanation about how our skin color is determined by our ancestors, the sun, and melanin. It’s also filled with colorful photographs that capture the beautiful variety of skin tones. Reading this book frees children from the myths and stereotypes associated with skin color and helps them build positive identities as they accept, understand, and value our rich and diverse world. Unique activity ideas are included to help you extend the conversation with children.
Katie Kissinger, MA, is an author, activist, educator for social justice, and an early childhood education college instructor. She is founder and a board member of Threads of Justice Collective, an informal group of educators who work together to promote social and cultural justice for all children and families. Katie lives near Portland, Oregon.
Chris Bohnhoff earned a degree in English from Carleton College and then attended the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Chris takes pictures in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and beyond.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
August 14, 2020
All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color/ Todos los colores de nuestra piel: La historia de pour que temenos diferentes colores de piel Written by: Katie Kissinger Photographs by: Chris Bohnhoff
Ages: 3-8
All the Colors
We Are is a bilingual (English and Spanish) nonfiction (factual) book about the role melanin and ancestry plays in our skin color. The scientific explanation is broken down, so even young children can understand the concepts.
This is a great way to dispel myths about skin color, and the Spanish translations are a plus.
Find more children's books that support diversity and tolerance in my post https://www.teacher-librarian-forlife...
Ages: 3-8
All the Colors
We Are is a bilingual (English and Spanish) nonfiction (factual) book about the role melanin and ancestry plays in our skin color. The scientific explanation is broken down, so even young children can understand the concepts.
This is a great way to dispel myths about skin color, and the Spanish translations are a plus.
Find more children's books that support diversity and tolerance in my post https://www.teacher-librarian-forlife...
November 11, 2022
Photographic illustrations, bilingual text, beginner nonfiction - Emma
January 7, 2021
One of our favorites - husband calls it Little Man’s first non-fiction. He requests it over and over. Good introduction to race/physical differences (with good activity suggestions in the back). During quarantine I’m glad to have it so that at least we can look at pictures of other children (SOB).
¡Plus it’s in Spanish and English!
¡Plus it’s in Spanish and English!
October 2, 2021
Amazon review:
My preschooler really loves this book! I love how it explains how skin color is darker due to melanin. It has prompted my son to ask more questions about skin color and make statements about "melanin." We're an adoptive family, so I have to change the wording a little bit to say that we get our skin color from our "birth family and ancestors," but that's no problem. I love all the photos of real people and real families! It has made my son really notice people's skin color differences in a good way--in a "non-color blind" kind of way, which was the goal! A great addition to our library as we continue to try to diversify it.
My preschooler really loves this book! I love how it explains how skin color is darker due to melanin. It has prompted my son to ask more questions about skin color and make statements about "melanin." We're an adoptive family, so I have to change the wording a little bit to say that we get our skin color from our "birth family and ancestors," but that's no problem. I love all the photos of real people and real families! It has made my son really notice people's skin color differences in a good way--in a "non-color blind" kind of way, which was the goal! A great addition to our library as we continue to try to diversify it.
January 23, 2020
Age: Preschool+
All about me: Skin
Science: Anatomy, melanin
An empowering and normalizing fact-based approach to why the world is full of different skin colors. An effective book that will provide a nice balance to fiction books that celebrate diversity and skin color.
Although originally published in 1994, the 20 year edition has crisp photography and timeless clothing choices that should give it more lasting power into the next 20 years.
All about me: Skin
Science: Anatomy, melanin
An empowering and normalizing fact-based approach to why the world is full of different skin colors. An effective book that will provide a nice balance to fiction books that celebrate diversity and skin color.
Although originally published in 1994, the 20 year edition has crisp photography and timeless clothing choices that should give it more lasting power into the next 20 years.
September 17, 2017
One way we are all special and different from one another is our skin color. This bilingual book (English/Spanish) is called All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color and it is written by Katie Kissinger. This book uses simple, scientifically accurate words about how our skin color is determined by our ancestors, the sun, and melanin. Sometimes it seems that well meaning adults over simplify concepts because they think they need to make it easier for children to understand. Kissinger keeps the heart of the concept of racial differences at an adult level, but makes the language accessible for children to understand and participate in the discussion.
I have enjoyed reading this book with my students because it sparks conversations and the kids bring their own experiences and ideas to the discussion. The conversations we have had are always safe and friendly, but the kids have been honest and often times blunt about how they have been treated and how they have seen other people treated in the past. The photographs in this book are lovely and really help kids connect and understand. This book is printed in both Spanish and English on each page so even if kids do not speak Spanish they can enjoy hearing a different language. I think hearing a different language helps English only speaking kids build empathy and relate to the kids in our class who are learning English as their second or third language.
I have enjoyed reading this book with my students because it sparks conversations and the kids bring their own experiences and ideas to the discussion. The conversations we have had are always safe and friendly, but the kids have been honest and often times blunt about how they have been treated and how they have seen other people treated in the past. The photographs in this book are lovely and really help kids connect and understand. This book is printed in both Spanish and English on each page so even if kids do not speak Spanish they can enjoy hearing a different language. I think hearing a different language helps English only speaking kids build empathy and relate to the kids in our class who are learning English as their second or third language.
February 6, 2025
A very well done explanation to children about the variations in skin color on earth. All of us have skin that is a different shade of brown.
Three ways that we get our skin color:
1. From our parents/relatives/ancestors.
2. From the sun.
3. From melanin.
More sun, more darker skin becomes, regardless of initial color.
More melanin is darker skin. Freckles are just high-melanin spots.
I like all the colorful kids and family pictures in this book.
A good world-map showing darker ancestral colors near the equatorial countries helps tie these three skin-color-factors together. (More sun, relatives, more natural melanin).
Very minor - could have shown even MORE variations in the skin colors - indigenous (American Indian, or Aborigine). But enough variation here to grasp this concept.
In these days, this simple science may be not so simple to talk about in a classroom. But kids have questions! They need solid, scientific, simple answers like this.
And bi-lingual! (Both English/Spanish in very clear easy-to-read text).
Solid 5*
Three ways that we get our skin color:
1. From our parents/relatives/ancestors.
2. From the sun.
3. From melanin.
More sun, more darker skin becomes, regardless of initial color.
More melanin is darker skin. Freckles are just high-melanin spots.
I like all the colorful kids and family pictures in this book.
A good world-map showing darker ancestral colors near the equatorial countries helps tie these three skin-color-factors together. (More sun, relatives, more natural melanin).
Very minor - could have shown even MORE variations in the skin colors - indigenous (American Indian, or Aborigine). But enough variation here to grasp this concept.
In these days, this simple science may be not so simple to talk about in a classroom. But kids have questions! They need solid, scientific, simple answers like this.
And bi-lingual! (Both English/Spanish in very clear easy-to-read text).
Solid 5*
August 23, 2019
An excellent picture book to use with pre-k to kindergarten kids to explain the reasons why our skin comes in different colors. I appreciated that the text was no-nonsense and explained the actual scientific reasoning for why people have a broad range of skin tones. The language wasn't condescending; it explained things perfectly for young children. The Spanish text is translated well so one doesn't have to worry about that!
My *only* quibble would be that the photographs of the children and families in the story have an outdated feel (which makes sense because it was in the early 2000s!) (Also no disrespect to the photographer because the images are beautiful!). If the photographs could be updated in a future reprinting, that would be fantastic. But honestly, ALL THE COLORS WE ARE: TODOS LOS COLORES DE NUESTRA PIEL is fabulous and I would push it into every set of hands if possible. A must-have for any educator's collection!
My *only* quibble would be that the photographs of the children and families in the story have an outdated feel (which makes sense because it was in the early 2000s!) (Also no disrespect to the photographer because the images are beautiful!). If the photographs could be updated in a future reprinting, that would be fantastic. But honestly, ALL THE COLORS WE ARE: TODOS LOS COLORES DE NUESTRA PIEL is fabulous and I would push it into every set of hands if possible. A must-have for any educator's collection!
September 30, 2023
Written in both English and Spanish. Excellent photo illustrations plus an interesting world graph showing world temperature variations. The text is easily read and easily understood.
This is a scientific explanation of why different people have different skin colors. The text goes into ancestry and how different climates affected skin color through melatonin production--people who lived in hot, sunny places needed more melatonin in their skin to ward off sunburn; while people who lived in cooler or colder places with less sunshine didn't need as much melatonin since their skin was so frequently covered by warm clothing. Your skin color depends upon where your ancestors came from.
Appropriate for early elementary and up. Younger readers will want their grown ups to explain a lot but they might well be interested.
This is a scientific explanation of why different people have different skin colors. The text goes into ancestry and how different climates affected skin color through melatonin production--people who lived in hot, sunny places needed more melatonin in their skin to ward off sunburn; while people who lived in cooler or colder places with less sunshine didn't need as much melatonin since their skin was so frequently covered by warm clothing. Your skin color depends upon where your ancestors came from.
Appropriate for early elementary and up. Younger readers will want their grown ups to explain a lot but they might well be interested.
December 9, 2020
I think this is such an important book to have in the classroom library. This book introduces to children where we get our skin color from and why our skin color is important. This book makes the reader appreciate their own skin color, regardless of what it is, and helps us understand biologically why we all have different skin tones. I think this book is good for the classroom library because it not only gives us the book in English, but there is a Spanish translation in the book as well so it is for more than just one language.
June 6, 2017
(ages 3-7) "What color is your skin? What name would you like to give the color of your skin? How do you think we get our own special color of skin?" Katie Kissinger uses clear, simple language and appealing photographs to convey how each person's skin color comes from that person's family, the sun, and little grains of melanin in the skin. An array of activity ideas help to further demystify race and skin tone.
July 14, 2020
I believe this is a must-own book for both home and classroom libraries. We've had this book in our home library for a handful of years, and we all absolutely love it! It provides children with an age-appropriate and scientific understanding of melanin and various skin colors. There's nothing like hearing a child say, "Does your person have more melanin than me?" during an intense game of Guess Who?!
January 23, 2019
Recommended by a colleague. This was a good time for us to read this as my 4 year old recently started talking about skin color. Book focuses on three different ways each person gets their skin color: from your parents and ancestors, from the sun, and from melanin. Great pictures supplement the text.
April 17, 2018
If you are looking for a good way to explain to your kids why people have different skin color, this is an excellent book to read with them. I think elementary age is a good target audience, but preschoolers might like it, too.
May 8, 2019
this is a WONDERFUL story to approach the difficult concept of race with young children in a very developmentally appropriate way.
Lovely photographs and supplements with activity ideas as well
HIGHLY recommended addition for a preschool library
Lovely photographs and supplements with activity ideas as well
HIGHLY recommended addition for a preschool library
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December 16, 2019So. Many. People. recommended this book re: talking to kids about race in a simple way. But... I don't know. There is a lot of biological oversimplification here and not a lot of nuance about culture, or about the idea that kids and parents aren't always related by blood.
June 29, 2020
immediately thought about how I will teach with this book. The best book I've read explaining why our skin is different shades of brown. The activities at the end of the book are going into my lesson plans. And the book is bilingual! Thank you Miss Kissinger!
August 14, 2020
It explains in simple terms why there are different skin colors (ancestors, geography, melon in skin, amount of sunlight you get each day). It teaches that although we look different we are the same. I love that each page is in english and spanish.
March 27, 2021
A simple scientific exploration of why some people have light > dark skin including heritage of parents, melanin and exposure to sun, including freckles! Nice diverse photographs of kids and families.
November 25, 2022
Really informative for kids on why we all look different. Our school social worker suggested it to us and the 2nd graders really enjoyed learning all about melanin. We used "Colors of the World" crayons to make a bulletin board of all the colors of our class afterwards.
December 24, 2024
A bilingual English/Spanish book that teaches kids the scientific reasoning behind skin color. It contains various activities to show kids that we are all shades of brown. The point is to emphasize we are all the same. This one is best for use in a preschool/pre-K or Kindergarten classroom.
January 30, 2019
good explanation of what color is and how it is passed along. very straight forward science but no connotations. good intro to topic
January 13, 2020
Valuable resource for teaching children about skin color, differences, racism, and bias.
June 1, 2020
I read this to my kids as part of our black history month education. It’s a good one at explaining how melanin works and why we have various skin tones.
June 1, 2020
Hooray for a simple explanation of the fact that skin color is just SCIENCE. Cool ideas for activities in the back, too. 3.5 stars.
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June 24, 2020Great book to use with young kids to explain melanin and why we all have different skin colors.
October 16, 2020
I love the images captured in these photographs. It brings the point of the story home more than illustrations ever could.
March 8, 2021
The beautiful array of skin colors - in English and Spanish
March 10, 2021
A wonderful picture book that explains how skin color happens. Discusses ancestry, sun, and melanin.
April 18, 2021
Excellent book. Required in any decolonized home library.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews