Black Is Brown Is Tan

Black Is Brown Is Tan
by Arnold Adoff, pictures by Emily McCully
1973
978-0060200831

Black Is Brown Is Tan
by Arnold Adoff, pictures by Emily McCully
2002
0-06-028777-2


A poetic expression of an interracial family with an African American mother, a Caucasian father, and their two children.  It is lyrically beautiful and captures the universal interactions and feelings between parents and children, regardless of race, but also examines how skin color affects the equation.  Adoff presents a curious conundrum positing a confusion of positives and negatives.  Mother is the color of chocolate milk with chocolate cheeks and hands.  Father is white, but not the color of snow or milk.  Why the juxtaposition of "am" and "am not"?  Does the author's race correlate to the reason for this dichotomy?  Is chocolate to be praised, as snow and milk to be denied?

The artwork and sensibilities of this family book are very 1970's and it works in the book's favor, resulting in a warmth and a retrospective family presentation.  Would living in a bi-racial family structure be an experience such as Adoff presents?  It wouldn't be a bad thing if it was...

***Reprinted in 2002 with new illustrations in vivid watercolors.  The new artwork updates the dress and grooming styles to more modern standards.  Maybe or maybe not an improvement on the original.