Like Night and Day: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o

Sulwe was born the color of midnight. She looked nothing like her family. Not even a little.

The rest of her family--her mama and her sister--are lighter and brighter, like noon! At school the other kids call her sister Mich "Sunshine," but they call Sulwe "Darkie." No one plays with her. Sulwe tries a big rubber eraser to see if her color will rub off. It doesn't. It only hurts. She tries some of Mama's makeup. She eats only white food for a while. None of those things work. One night when she says her prayers, she wishes to be as fair as her parents. But in the morning she only sees her midnight face in the mirror. Seeing her tears, her mama reminds her that her name means "Star" for brightness.

"Brightness is not in your skin," Mama tells her. "It's who you are. It begins with how you see yourself."

But Sulwe doesn't understand. With her tears drying on her face, she falls asleep and into a dream in which a big, bright star soars through her window and tells her the story of two sisters, Day and Night. People call them different names. Day is called "Lovely." Night is called "Scary." They praise Day so much that one day Night just leaves the earth. At first the people love having Day always with them, but little by little things go wrong on the earth. Nothing goes the way they like it. And Day is lonely for her sister and goes into the sky to search for her. But when she finds her, Night does not want to return to earth where people call her bad names. But the people come to her with a plea.

"We need you." "You see," the Big Star explained. "We need both--and every shade in between."

And the next morning, Sulwe wakes up...

BEAMING.

It takes all kinds and all shades to make an interesting world, in Lupita Nyong'o's Sulwe (Simon and Schuster, 2019). Of course, color is only one difference that divides people, but in this little parable it serves as a symbol of the many superficial differences that sometimes loom large in children's eyes. Awarded a Coretta Scott King Illustrator's Award for Vashti Harrison's vibrant illustrations, Nyong'o's book offers what Booklist's reviewer calls, "...A welcome celebration of Black girls, an important lesson for all kids (and grownups), and a necessary message for any child who has been made to feel unworthy of love on account of their looks."