For fans of Hair Love and Eyes that Kiss in the Corners , here is an empowering picture book about recognizing the beauty around you and within you by award-winning author Supriya Kelkar and rising star illustrator Noor Sofi. Brown is beautiful. On a hike with her grandparents, a young Indian-American girl makes note of all the things in nature that are brown, too. From a nurturing mother bear, to the steadiness of deep twisting roots, to the beauty of a wild mustang, brown is everywhere! On her way, the girl collects the beautiful brown things she encounters as mementos for a scrapbook to share with a very special new addition to her family--a baby brother! Brown is you. Brown is me. PreS-Gr 3—A young girl with brown skin and black hair and an older couple take an ordinary hike amid epic landscapes, such as a rainstorm under a large sheltering tree that seems to have grown at the end of the world. Nearly microscopic moments, including ants marching along the ground and "rumbling trains transporting freight," are noted. When they return home, the child's parents have arrived with a newborn. The celebration of all things brown, from a nest, soil, roots, and a baby's tiny promise, is wrapped up in very few pages; the author's note discloses a childhood growing up mocked for her skin color and even joining in. She later grew into an appreciation and love for brown, and then extends an invitation to readers to put what they love, whatever it may be, into a scrapbook, with instructions. This book is built on 100 percent generosity, even before readers know its origins in a child's heartbreak, with scenes of the grandparents trekking up hillsides and pointing out to one another the various things they spy; the trio revels in nature and in the company of the others. The artwork has the appearance of old-fashioned animation cells, with a stillness to the poses and frozen grins associated with the glory days of Disney films. VERDICT A baby's homecoming is a reminder of the joy found in the color brown, a cozy message that few readers will want to miss. Lovely.—Kimberly Olson Fakih "This brilliant tapestry of browns may spark discussions about identity and nature." ― Kirkus Reviews "Lyrically narrated... Kelkar follows intergenerational members of a brown-skinned family walking out-of-doors and beholding brown-hued elements of a changing landscape... In lustrous autumnal hues, debut illustrator Sofi’s rich digital art captures a variety of natural landscapes via images both majestic and familiar." ― Publishers Weekly " A baby’s homecoming is a reminder of the joy found in the color brown, a cozy ­message that few readers will want to miss. ­Lovely." ― School Library Journal Supriya Kelkar is an illustrator and a screenwriter who grew up in the Midwest, where she learned Hindi as a child by watching three Hindi movies a week. In addition to illustrating, she writes award-winning middle grade novels, graphic novels, and picture books, including Thank You, Teacher! , Brown Is Beautiful and My Name . Noor Sofi , illustrator of Supriya Kelkar's Brown Is Beautiful , is a Kashmiri-American Visual Development artist who works in Burbank, California at Taiko Animation Studios. She loves coming up with stories, wandering around art galleries, and hanging with her cat, Momo.