Shine Bright

K-Gr 3–Imani is a confident, dark-skinned girl who loves skating, dancing, singing, and meeting new people, but when some kids at the park comment on her dark skin, Imani loses her sparkle. She goes home to her lighter-skinned older sister, Crystal, who gives her an explanation and a pep talk that make up the bulk of the book: “Your dark skin is beautiful! They aren’t afraid of you. They’re afraid of what they don’t know. Your dark skin makes you shine.” The subject and message are similar to Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o, but the art is completely different, bubbly and cartoonish: Imani has the large, exaggerated eyes of an anime character and is likewise appropriately trailed by colored stars and swooshes. Text incorporated into the illustrations on posters and t-shirts trumpets “We matter” and “Black excellence.” The overall message is upbeat, and Imani absorbs her sister’s advice to “keep on…shining bright.”