Title: Wonderfully, Marvelously Brown
Author: Xochitl Dixon
Major Themes: Creation
Synopsis: There are brown things all around us—including every person on earth—and God made them all!
Yes, I’m a sucker for picture books. I love picture books—I love looking at them, and I love reading them to my children. Although I’m in no particular hurry to have grandchildren, I do hope I have some within a few years, at least, after my own youngest ones outgrow picture books—and I hope they like me to read picture books to them for a while yet! Since the youngest just turned five, we have a few years to still enjoy these beautiful, fun stories together. Because of my love for picture books, I signed up to review Wonderfully, Marvelously Brown.
Publisher’s description:
Wonderfully, Marvelously Brown follows a young boy on a joyously affirming adventure that celebrates all shades of brown, from the darkest to the lightest.
From new school desks to freckles and moles, from fresh pastries to cedar canoes, brown is everywhere around us. God created and used brown to color the giant California redwoods, the Grand Canyon walls, busy beavers building dams, great horned owls hoo-hooing, and his image-bearers.
Everywhere that I go
I’m searching to see
something wonderfully, marvelously
brown—just like you and like me!
Illustrated by Pura Belpré Honor Award artist Sara Palacios and written by Xochitl Dixon, Wonderfully, Marvelously Brown takes kids on a tour of the U.S. to seek and find all the brilliant and beautiful shades of brown—from ivory to ebony—that God created. Readers will be encouraged to love the skin tone God chose for them as they observe how the spectacular shades of brown are reflected in their communities and the world around them.
My thoughts:
I really like this book! The rhyming text is great fun to read aloud, and the pictures are delightful. I love the variety of settings pictured throughout the book. There are pages picturing city streets and schoolrooms, as well as northern forests and the Grand Canyon, to name a few. The diversity in children pictured is delightful, as well, with all shades of brown, including some children whose darkest skin is freckles! (I’ll have to admit that I was a little concerned that people with skin tones like ours would be left out, but we were included!) I also loved the range of things that were mentioned as being brown, from sparrows to school desks to beaver dams, and many more. This is a wonderful book to have on the shelf, to point children to God’s diverse creation and love of variety.
One of my adult sons is quite outspoken about his dislike of the modern “woke” culture, and his comment when he heard me read it aloud to my youngest was that books like Wonderfully, Marvelously Brown are what we need more of. This is a book that I am quite happy to have on our shelf.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it.
No warnings!
Age levels:
Listening Level—Ages 3 – 4, 5 – 8
Reading Independently—Ages 7 – 9
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Kindle | Hardcover
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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