Staff Review: "Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match" by Monica Brown

There is, unfortunately, a time in every child's life when they feel ashamed of who they are for whatever reason. Thankfully, there are many wonderful books about embracing your identity, and Monica Brown has given us a delightful new installment to the catalog in "Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match".

Marisol McDonald doesn't match at all. She has brown skin and red hair, loves to wear all colors at the same time, and signs her name in both cursive and print. And she's totally okay with that until she starts getting teased for her un-matchiness. So the next day at school, Marisol wears all the same color, plays only one thing at a time, and has a plain old peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead of her usual peanut butter and jelly burrito. And Marisol is sad. But thanks to a kind note from her teacher and her loving parents, Marisol realizes that not matching is just great.

Not only is this one of the best picture books that I've read about being a bi-racial child (Marisol is Peruvian-Scottish-American), it is also the best bi-lingual picture book (the text is in English and Spanish) that I have ever read. The story is engaging, the pictures are vibrant and celebratory, and the message is not heavy-handed. Marisol is an adorable character that I would love to have at Story time every week. 

--Andrea W., H.Q.