The Skin I'm In

By: Sharon G. Flake

Narrated by: Sisi Aisha Johnson

Length: 3 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning author Sharon G. Flake crafts a remarkable story of one girl's struggle to accept herself.

Maleeka Madison is a dark skinned African-American girl. She feels uncomfortable and wishes she had lighter skin. When her teacher, Miss Saunders, who suffers from a rare skin condition, shows that there is more to people than the color of their skin, Maleeka learns to appreciate and accept who she truly is.

Sisi Aisha Johnson's gripping narration makes this story come alive.

©1998 Sharon G. Flake (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC.

Critic reviews

"Johnson goes beyond delivering dialogue. She gets beneath the skin of Flake's complicated characters." (Audiofile)

Bravo!

Beautifully written and narrated. My students and I throughly enjoyed it. A must read or listen to. Love it!

Great Story; Engrossing Narration

I’ve loved this story for decades on the page and hearing it read so beautifully aloud makes me love it even more.

enjoyed it

my middle school students enjoyed it so much, they wanted to write a part II

Rivoting

This was a great read it is unfortunate that our kids still have to live through life like this and maybe even worse. The young lady who read it did an excellent job!
#sadstateofaffairs #wishwedidnthavetodealwiththis #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Be Your Own Kind Of Beautiful

To all of those out there with insecurities, learn to love yourself. Accept people for who they are flaws and all. I like that this book discusses the trials that a dark skinned and intelligent African American goes through. The lighter skin being preferred in the black community is still common and dark skinned girls have gone to the extremes of bleaching their skin. Teasing and taunting is still a big issue in school. You can't be too smart, dumb, skinny, fat, shy, or anti-social. Being different gets you made fun of. Learn to be your own kind of beautiful.

I started this book years ago and just had the opportunity to complete it.

This book was well worth the wait. I was able to listen to it with my son and nerves who are in middle school. It's sparked wonderful conversation and inspired some serious reading. The story is engaging and really grapples with the complexities of adolescence.

Beautiful

It’s a beautiful story. I wanted to hear more. I’m so proud of the lead character. She really touched me.

Not bad for what it is

What made the experience of listening to The Skin I'm In the most enjoyable?

The reader was pleasant to listen to and used appropriate inflections.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Hopeful

Any additional comments?

This is a teen/preteen book and is good for what it is.

Coming of Age

This was a pretty powerful coming of age piece set in the urban jungle of a city near you. Maleeka, a young dark skinned African American, has to contend with taunts and belittling about her skin color from her own peers in class. The power of this piece stems from Maleeka's slowly developing ability to overcome the fear of standing up to bullies and her peers and finding her own self worth through confidence in herself, her writing, her dad, a trusted teacher as well as the eventual love and support of a good friend.

As a staged reading, it was brought to life with a style that extracted even more from the crisp writing than my imagination may have afforded if I simply read it myself. C.C. Aisha Johnson did a very convincing job playing everyone, including the characters in Maleeka's writing. Well done.

Gòod reads

My daughter has this to read in school and was asking me some questions that made me interested in reading ìt. It was good listening, it held me captivated wanting to know what would happen next