I liked this book for two reasons: all of the components of identity it covered (race, ethnicity, language, ability, culture) and because of the way the little girl compared skin colors to foods. This book really pushes readers to think about the way people with blindness understand the world and the way that skin color really affects us. Nan-ma is unaffected by race in the same way sighted people are and so thought Phoebe's classmates called her french toast because of her accent, not because of her skin color. I feel that this helps readers question their own understandings of race and skin color because in some aspects, it really only is skin deep. I also really liked the way Phoebe's character was developed and written. In the beginning Phoebe is walking with Nan-ma and is wishing that she would walk faster, which I felt was funny and kids would relate to because they have so much energy and no achey limbs. She was also initially embarrassed by the name kids were calling her because she didn't understand how special it was, a fair misunderstanding for a child to have. As the story goes on, she compares skin colors to foods, something a child does understand well, and learns to love her skin color as it relates to her favorite foods. Lastly, I enjoyed the illustrations in this book because they were very unique and I found that to be very fitting for a unique story. The pictures of the food were more realistic, like photographs, while the other illustrations were cartoon-like. I feel this demonstrated the fact that Nan-ma knew what food was like realistically because she ate food even without seeing it, but the rest of the world is less concrete because she does not know what it is like without being able to see it. The message of this story is to recognize the beauty in who you are. ( )

This story is about a little girl from a multi racial family. Because of her families variety of skin color she gets creative about thinking of the different colors in terms of food. As she is on a walk with her grandma, kids call out to her "hey French Toast!" and they call her this because of her skin color. Her blind grandma then asks her what they meant by that, and then the story goes on with the little girl explaining skin colors to her grandma through food.

This story was very cute, it could be used to explain to kids how though a something that seems a simple name calling can affect how a child feels about themselves. It could work to explain not only bullying but also diversity. ( )

I enjoyed reading French Toast for many reasons. The first reason I liked the book was for its illustrations. The people in the story like Ma and Nan-ma have faces that look life-like. The rest of the illustrations in the story are drawn and less life-like. The contrast in these illustrations make the book stand out. The second reason that I liked this book was because of its descriptive language. Phoebe, the main character in the story, describes the skin color of each of her relatives using food comparisons. For example, Ma's skin tone is like "stirred peach yogurt." Pa's skin tone is like "warm banana bread." These descriptions added to the imagery of the story and helped me to envision exactly what Phoebe was describing. The big idea in this story was that everyone is unique and that is to be embraced. In the beginning of the story, Phoebe was embarrassed by the color of her skin. However, after chatting with her grandma about her family's differences, Phoebe commented that she liked who she was when she was with Nan-ma. ( )