Sulwe

Sulwe is a children’s picture book written by author Lupita Nyong’o with powerful illustrations from Vashti Harrison. This book was published in 2019 and received the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award in 2020. I checked out this text from my school's library when looking for a multicultural text. This book was on the Monarch Award's Master List last year as I remember my students voting for this text to receive a Monarch Award! It has received other notable multiple awards: the Children's Africana Book Award (2020), CSMCL Best Books Award (2019), and the Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People (2020).

What’s unique about Sulwe is that it portrays the theme of colorism versus the theme of racism that many literary works show. Sulwe is a young girl that recognizes that within her nuclear family (mom, dad, and sister) that she does not look like them at all. I found this interesting because in Western Culture, the polarities of “white versus black” are seen between two races of people whereas in this book, Sulwe sees herself as different within her own non-biracial family. Sulwe compares the different shades of her family’s skin tones to that of the times in the day (dawn, dusk, and high noon). Sulwe sees herself as dark as night. Sulwe sees her older sister who has far lighter skin than her, make many friends at school whereas she has none. She feels hurt with the nicknames of “Darky, Blackie, and Night” in comparison to her sister’s nicknames of “sunshine, ray, and beauty”.

What is really heartbreaking is when Sulwe tries to change her darkness. Sulwe is a young girl of elementary age. With that comes her logic of thinking that just maybe if she uses a big eraser, she could rub off her darkness. She also tries applying her mom’s lighter makeup, eating light/bright foods, and praying to God for a miracle.

The prayer Sulwe says in the story is in the form of a poem. The prayer highlights Sulwe questioning why she was made the way she was and her desire to be as brought as the sun. Sulwe and her mom have a heart-to-heart conversation and Sulwe learns that her name means “star”. This is foreshadowing. Later that evening when Sulwe goes to bed, the story’s tone shifts to one of mysticism through a story telling format. For Sulwe is awakened in the middle of the night by a star that tells of the tale of two sisters that are “Day” and “Night”. The story draws many parallels to the experience Sulwe is going through with her sister.

Through this tale, Sulwe learns about the purpose for both light and dark to coexist. She also learns how there is light in the darkness (like the stars in the sky) and darkness in the light (shadows). Both are needed in delicate balance.

What I really enjoyed most about this book was the illustrations. It very much reminds me of the rich colors and magical journey Moana goes in Disney’s “Moana”. The vibrant purple, blue, gold, and black used makes the book magical as it takes on the beauty of the night! The illustrations lull the reader in. I find that this book is targeted towards primary grade levels. However, I think anyone would benefit from the messages of this book.

This book focuses on beauty coming from within and that only one can determine their own beauty/worth. Sulwe’s mother shared this important message to Sulwe. This text is definitely prevalent to anyone battling low self-esteem/self-worth.

This text can teach important themes for different age groups. This would be a great story to discuss the theme of colorism and self-worth. A great time for this would be during a multicultural unit or black history month to celebrate diversity and introspection. I also feel like this would be a great book to read to adolescence since that is when many pre-teens/teenagers become very self-conscious and look outside of them for validation verses looking within. This would be great for social-emotional lessons. In addition to this, the author Lupita Nyong’o brings up Sulwe’s experiences with bullying because she too was bullied based on her skin tone. Social workers, counselors, and teachers could use this text to segue into discussions on bullying.

This text is very versatile and will enrapture its audience with its magical illustrations and important themes!