Maleeka, the narrator of The Skin I'm In, is blacker than most of her classmates in seventh grade. She gets frustrated at being teased for her skin colour, that's like "a blue-black sky after it's rained and rained", by pupils who are also black--just a little bit less so. When Miss Saunders joins the school to teach as an experiment, on loan from an advertising agency, it is not just her posh clothes that make people talk but also her down-to-earth-attitude and her unusual face.
Sharon G Flake seemingly sets up a typical tale of adolescents coming to terms with their differences--visual and emotional--not least through the less-than-subtle title, However, despite the references to skin colour and teenagers' reactions to physical appearance, Flake treats her characters and story delicately. There are no blatant truisms about not judging a book by its cover, and the story works itself out without any need to hold forth on equality, whatever a person's background.
Maleeka's character grows and develops, particularly through her creative writing about a young black slave girl, which adds depth and imagination to what could be another high-school morality tale. Flake has reflected teenage fretting over right and wrong sensitively so that readers will sympathise with the characters while making their own subconscious judgments. --Olivia Dickinson
Sharon G Flake seemingly sets up a typical tale of adolescents coming to terms with their differences--visual and emotional--not least through the less-than-subtle title, However, despite the references to skin colour and teenagers' reactions to physical appearance, Flake treats her characters and story delicately. There are no blatant truisms about not judging a book by its cover, and the story works itself out without any need to hold forth on equality, whatever a person's background.
Maleeka's character grows and develops, particularly through her creative writing about a young black slave girl, which adds depth and imagination to what could be another high-school morality tale. Flake has reflected teenage fretting over right and wrong sensitively so that readers will sympathise with the characters while making their own subconscious judgments. --Olivia Dickinson
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Used availability for Sharon G Flake's Skin I'm in
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Hardback Editions
August 2007 : Hardback
| Title: The Skin I'm In Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 0-7569-8468-8 / 978-0-7569-8468-7 (USA edition) Publisher: Perfection Learning Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
April 2007 : Library Binding
| Title: The Skin I'm in Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 1-4178-0860-8 / 978-1-4178-0860-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Turtleback Books Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
January 2007 : Library Binding
| Title: Skin I'm In (Sharon G. Flake) Author(s): Sharon Flake ISBN: 1-4242-0363-5 / 978-1-4242-0363-5 (USA edition) Publisher: Fitzgerald Books Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
2001 : Hardback
| Title: The Skin I'm in Author(s): Sharon G. Flake Publisher: Bt Bound Availability: Amazon More details... |
January 2000 : Library Binding
| Title: Skin I'm in Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 0-613-28643-X / 978-0-613-28643-5 (USA edition) Publisher: Topeka Bindery Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
November 1999 : Hardback
| Title: The Skin I'm in (Thorndike Young Adult) Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 0-7862-2179-8 / 978-0-7862-2179-0 (USA edition) Publisher: Thorndike Press Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
August 1999 : Hardback
| Title: Skin I'm in, The Author(s): Sharon Flake ISBN: 0-7868-0615-X / 978-0-7868-0615-7 (USA edition) Publisher: Hyperion Book CH Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
February 1999 : Hardback
| Title: The Skin I'm in Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 0-7868-0444-0 / 978-0-7868-0444-3 (USA edition) Publisher: Jump At The Sun Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA WorldCat More details... |
October 1998 : Hardback
| Title: The Skin I'm in Author(s): Sharon Flake ISBN: 0-7868-2392-5 / 978-0-7868-2392-5 (USA edition) Publisher: Hyperion (Juv) Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
1997 : Hardback
| Title: The Skin I'm In : Large Print Author(s): Sharon G. Flake Publisher: Thorndike Press Availability: Amazon More details... |
Paperback Editions
April 2010 : Paperback
| Title: The Skin I'm in (Rollercoasters) Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 0-19-832675-0 / 978-0-19-832675-5 (UK edition) Publisher: Oxford University Press Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
August 2007 : Paperback
| Title: The Skin I'm in Author(s): Sharon G. Flake Publisher: Perfection Learning Pre Bind Availability: Amazon More details... |
July 2007 : Paperback
| Title: The Skin I'm In Author(s): Sharon Flake ISBN: 1-4231-0385-8 / 978-1-4231-0385-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Hyperion Book CH Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
August 2001 : Paperback
| Title: Skin I'm in Author(s): Sharon G Flake ISBN: 0-552-54763-8 / 978-0-552-54763-5 (UK edition) Publisher: Corgi Childrens Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
January 2000 : Paperback
| Title: The Skin I'm in Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 0-7868-1307-5 / 978-0-7868-1307-0 (USA edition) Publisher: Hyperion Books Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
2000 : Paperback
| Title: The Skin I'm In Edition: First Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 0-439-17214-4 / 978-0-439-17214-1 (USA, UK, or Canada (English speaking) edition) Publisher: Scholastic Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
Audio Editions
2004 : Audio CD
| Title: The Skin I'm In Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 1-4193-7314-5 / 978-1-4193-7314-5 (USA edition) Publisher: RecordedBooks Availability: Amazon More details... |
Audio Cassette
| Title: The Skin I'm In Author(s): ISBN: 1-4025-8472-5 / 978-1-4025-8472-5 (USA edition) Publisher: Recorded Books Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
Other Editions
January 2000 : Unknown
| Title: The Skin I'm in Author(s): Sharon G. Flake ISBN: 0-7807-9933-X / 978-0-7807-9933-2 (USA edition) Publisher: Perfection Learning Prebound Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
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