Magnificent Homespun Brown by Samara Cole Doyon

The narrators fully embody happiness and comfortability in their own skin, exuberantly taking on a multitude of situations throughout the story.

The story itself has a handful of narrators, and is written in lyrical prose much like I Am Brown and From Tan to Tamarind. I'm completely obsessed already and read the book twice immediately after opening it. This 'celebration' makes magic out of the everyday joys of being in the world.', This book is stunning, the definition of Brown Joy.

Readers may find themselves wondering whether this is the same girl in many aspects or many-and then contemplating their own multifaceted natures. The girls and their friends and family wear a variety of hairstyles there are characters in hijabs, one with vitiligo, a child in a wheelchair, and an adult without a hand. Juanita's earth-toned illustrations are joyful and remarkably inclusive. The text of the poem is delightfully filled with rich imagery and luscious language, complex enough to grow into but familiar enough to enjoy at any age. Each girl is featured with family members or friends, relating to nature, and on her own having fun or in a reflective moment. Still another tastes the 'amber brown' of honey from her aunt's hive and admires the 'amber brown' of her own hair. On the next spread, a close-up of a bespectacled girl's face is accompanied by the line, 'Deep secret brown.like my eyes.' Another girl admires the 'feathery brown' of tree shadows on a hike with her daddy and then the 'feathery brown' of her eyelashes. Like the subtly churning river currents / playfully beckoning me / through my grandmother's kitchen window.' A girl gazes, smiling, out the window at a scene of the natural world. 'A series of young brown girls admire the many different browns in their environments and in their own images in this poetic celebration of self and nature.

Magnificent Homespun Brown by Samara Cole Doyon