Book Review: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o, Illustrated by Vashti Harrison

This is a children’s book that many adults need to read; it gets into the true impacts that institutional racism has on black girls, children, women and people. The main character, Sulwe notices that she is the darkest member in her family, darker than her mother and father, and her sister, Mich. She notices the subtle and not so subtle differences between the way other kids treat her and her sister. What is underlying here, is that the behavior, although perpetuated by children, is condoned and conditioned by the adults in those children’s lives. 

Lupita Nyong’o’s words, and Vashti Harrison’s illustrations tell a story that is as old as this country and yet will pull on your heart strings, and might even have you shed a tear. I truly enjoyed reading this book to my children, and it resonated with them. They related and empathized with Sulwe and thought she, as well as the characters in the fable intertwined throughout, were beautiful. Within this story is another story, one that Sulwe witnesses while on a journey with a shooting star. That story is a fable about how the moon and shadows came to be, it’s the story of two sisters, Night and Day. 

For black women and girls, this children’s book is affirming. For dark skinned black women and girls I, as a light skinned woman, can only imagine the impact this book has. I think for young readers this book is the perfect beginning to understand the realities that black, and in particular dark skinned, people face in the United States. Conservative lawmakers and advocates have been pushing to erase and whitewash the truth about the history of this country, including the truth about racism. It is more crucial than ever that we continue to tell our stories, and that we do so in every genre, and through every medium imaginable. We need more children’s books that make the complexities of racism, classism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia understandable by young, impressionable minds. We want to shape a generation of people who are educated, aware and most of all who are more than just tolerant of their peers, but who treat all people with respect and dignity.

I recommend this book for all black and nonblack people, all parents and nonparents, and all who seek to ban books from public schools on the basis that the topic might make them uncomfortable.