“Well, you are beautiful to me. But you can't rely on what you look like to make you feel beautiful, my sweet. Real beauty comes from your mind and you heart. It begins with how you see yourself, not how others see you...“  
Sulwe, Lupita Nyongo  
  
“You don't know what it's like to be treated badly for being dark.” Especially by your fellow race. I mean the same shade of blood that flows through you is the same blood that flows through dark skinned beings. Same blood, different 'container'. We have a similar heart, perhaps different heights, body types but the fact that human should make us up appreciate each other more, right? Wrong.   
  
In this stunning debut picture book, actress Lupita Nyong’o creates a whimsical and heartwarming story to inspire children to see their own unique beauty. We are diverse but still all beautiful: beauty is not skin deep is what Nyong'o is trying to impart on our kids before they go out in the real world and get taught these things.   
  
People of color are breaking through the ceilings. We have woken up and teaching our young to be happy and proud how we are. The fact that Nyong'o has been through this prejudice makes her a perfect point person to spread the good news. The good news that every shade of skin color is beautiful We are taking our power back. And it feels blissful. I've been there. Bullied and made to feel less because I'm too sun-kissed so... It's blissful. That's how much I resonated with this book.   
  
Through Sulwe (which means star) we are taught all these. Its only through an otherworldly experience does Sulwe learn she is beautiful. Both in the inside and outside. This is a book I definitely intend my kids to read because charity begins at home. It's not only take home for kids but for adults too. We need to be reminded from time to time that we are beautiful given how much life sometimes rubs at us negatively that we forget.   
  
Don't ask me how many times I've read it