Different Differenter

Different Differenter is a beautifully-illustrated, full-color, activity book for children that thoughtfully addresses everyday skin color consciousness (and bias) in a way that's easy to understand.

Children's rich observations and questions about color, caste, race elicit accurate yet straightforward responses. Jyoti's art-and-craft-based book takes you on a playful and creative discovery to find answers that work for you and your family--while creatively introducing facts of history and 15-plus new words. Make art. Perform a play for the nanas when they're in town. Eat a yummy homemade dessert. Ooh! and aah! about how each member of the family has a different skin color.

Utilize this educational tool that sets the context for the hard conversations about self-awareness, color, discrimination, and identity. Subjects included in the book are biology about skin (melanin, genes, adaptation); culturally-related aspects (food, art practices, region/ethnicity); colorism's social impact (bullying, media bias) and solutions (bystander intervention, activism, and media literacy).

Illustrated by Tarannum Pasricha, Different Differenter reflects the world of the child, in all its diverse exuberance. The book's creators have worked hard to spawn a visual culture that centers cultures and children of color. Do away with the rhetoric, the baggage of taboo topics and political correctness! And lead the dialogue with your children and help them embrace the values of social justice and equity.

Jyoti is a social-justice media maker, a media-literacy educator, and the founder of The Colo(u)rism Project. She conducts workshops and presentations in Delhi and the U.S. serving various age-groups and audiences. Her independent work on the subject of colorism, which spans more than a decade, has garnered interest, engagement, and support from communities in Houston, New York, and New Delhi. Jyoti has represented her work at Jaipur Literature Festival, TEDxWomen, and the Allied Media Conference. Jyoti holds a Master in Media Studies from The New School University, New York, NY, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (visual communication) from College of Art, New Delhi, India. She currently lives in Manhattan with her spouse and 5-year-old son, Abir.

Tarannum majored in Applied Art from the College of Art, Delhi, and followed it up with a film-making course at the University of Southern California. Although a filmmaker by day, she illustrates regularly on her days off. Tarannum loves experimenting with various techniques, materials, and media. She and her sister recently co-published an illustrated book of their mother's poems. She has worked on social films advocating child rights, alongside regular adverts she calls "selling soap."