Black, White, Just Right! by Marguerite W. Davol

Irene Trivas illustrated more than 100 books for children and worked in the music industry and in advertising. She wrote numerous titles including Heart of the Wood, How Snake Got His Hiss, and Papa Alonzo Leatherby. Davol taught young children for many years at the Gorse Child Study Center at Mount Holyoke College. By moving beyond physical differences, Davol successfully shows how families are composed of distinct individuals whose love is the key to securing a child's sense of self.'- Publishers Weekly

'The book's upbeat tone is welcoming and refreshing. The text varies from prose to a rhyme that can be followed throughout both, the refrain 'just right' consistently rings.'- The Horn Book Guide 'Biracial readers may identify with the specific examples given, while all young children can relate to inheriting characteristics from their parents. The fact that her mother is African American and her father is white is just one of the many interesting things that make this little girl and her family 'just right.' With each difference she lists, she highlights the ways that their individual characteristics join together to make her family. As this little family moves through the world, the girl notes some of the ways that her parents are different from each other, and how she is different from both of them. This simple story celebrates how the differences between one mother and father blend to make the perfect combination in their daughter. By moving beyond physical differences, Davol successfully shows how families are composed of distinct individuals whose love is the key to securing a child's sense of self. Though Davol doesn't address the difficulties some children of an interracial marriage may experience outside the accepting realm of family, the book's upbeat tone is welcoming and refreshing. Anya! ) bright gouache illustrations heighten the sense of a world beautified through a blend of colors, while her compositions warmly depict the affection and positive self-image exuded both by the child and by her parents. Davol This simple story celebrates how the dierences between one mother and father blend to make theperfect combination in their daughter. The energetic brush strokes of Trivas's ( Annie. Mama and Papa say, `Just right!' '' The girl then describes her parents' different preferences in music, art and food, and the idiosyncrasies that make each family member an individual.

My face? I look like both of them- / a little dark, a litte light. Her dark brown eyes are bright as bees.'' Her father, on the other hand, ``turns pink in the sun / his blue eyes squinch up when he smiles. In free verse, the bubbly, confident girl describes her African American mother's face as ``chestnut brown. More a concept book than a story, this work is narrated by the daughter of an interracial marriage.

Black, White, Just Right! by Marguerite W. Davol