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ENCHANTED STORIES: Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration

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Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration
By Samara Cole Doyon
Illustrated by Kaylani Juanita
Thomaston, Maine: Tilbury House Publishers, 2020.

This joyful picture book is a celebration of the color brown - in all of its many expressions. Through evocative text and stunning illustrations we see brown in the natural world and represented in the lives of several brown skinned girls. Never has brown seemed more multi-faceted than to hear it described as feathery, amber, radiant, cozy, thundering, etc. The descriptions of brown are then matched by descriptions of cozy time spent with family and friends or exploring the woods on hikes. Then, the greatest celebration of all -- "radiant brown... like my skin."

The expressive, poetic text of this lovely picture book follows a gentle rhythm that is well-suited for a quiet lap-time read aloud. The illustrations are their own kind of celebration; celebrating diversity by showing girls with a variety of families, hairstyles -- a character with vitiligo or another character in a wheelchair. This book makes ordinary things seem magical in a celebration of inclusivity.

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