Sulwe, a story on darkness and light that teaches all

Sulwe is a children’s illustrated book about color. It’s color from the perspective of darkness and a young girl named Sulwe that looks nothing like her family. She’s the color of midnight, while her mother, father and sister all have lighter hues. Sulwe’s skin tone is affecting her personality, ability to make friends and her morale. How she deals with this and overcomes it will resonate with any pre-k through mid-elementary school student.

The book will work with kids in same way that each of has an El Guapo. Quoting the classic film The Three Amigos, “In a way, each of us has an El Guapo,for some shyness might their El Guapo.” For Sulwe, and other children whose skin is really dark, darkness is their El Guapo.

As the book goes on Sulwe becomes more and more reclusive until one night in bed she wonders how she can become a star. It’s here where the fable elements, fairy tale aspects and universality of the story come into play. Sulwe is swept away on a star who explains to her that night and day were once sisters.

The siblings loved each other very much, but people treated them quite differently. Night leaves the situation for a bit, which is great for her, but now the people on Earth were under the duress of 24-hour sunlight and heat. Day is quite tired of people who don’t like her and sets off on a search for night. The two find each other and realize that their individual strengths are tied to one another. Neither one of them needed to change. Night was prettiest when it was the darkest and people thought that Day was great when she peaked around noon.

When Sulwe wakes up she takes this lesson to heart and is beaming with confidence. The story is Sulwe is charming and one that kids will enjoy. The illustrations by Vashti Harrison are brilliant and make you pay attention. There are some great contrasting instances of the darks against the light, as well as vivid and crisp lines throughout the book.

The author’s note at the end where she explains to readers that this is her story is moving. She says that she used to pray to God that she’d wake up with lighter skin. It wasn’t until she was older that she realized that her darkness was her beauty. The author of Sulwe is Lupita Nyong’o.