This Mom Wrote A Book To Help Children Love Their Skin

Rebecca Manari wants kids to see the beauty in every shade.

Rebecca Manari is a mom, teacher and author. She wrote Brown Like Dosas, Samosas, And Sticky Chikki to help children everywhere feel beautiful in their skin.

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Rebecca tells BuzzFeed Life that the pressure for young people to fit into "an extremely unreasonable and rigid notion of what beauty is" inspired her to write the children's book. Particularly in her country of India, children feel the need to conform to societal beauty standards younger and younger, she says.

She explains how skin complexion in India is heavily tied to beauty.

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"One of these strange ideas is that only fair skin can be beautiful. You cannot watch a single TV show in India without being bombarded with advertisements for skin creams that lighten your skin," Rebecca says. "It is absurd that in a country where some people are a pale white and some as dark as chocolate and every beautiful shade in between, we still stick to the idea that only fair is lovely."

Brown Like Dosas, Samosas, And Sticky Chikki is about a little girl named Samaira who loves colors.

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One day, Samaira receives a jar full of light. When she opens the lid, she is transported into a brand new world. In this new magical place, she meets Anahi, a purple girl who offers to lighten Samaira's chocolate colored hue in exchange for the jar. The story follows Samaira on a colorful journey of self-acceptance and confidence.

In choosing the title, Rebecca wanted something that would be catchy and spark a child's curiosity.

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"The idea was of course, to make the child see all shades of brown as pretty, lovely and positive things that they love, things they can relate to, and things that are delicious!" she says.

Since authoring the adventurous read, Rebecca says that the responses have been overwhelming.

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"Being the crybaby that I am, I am moved to tears with every bit of feedback I receive, especially when it comes straight from the heart of a child," she tells BuzzFeed. "The most recent moving response is of a gentleman I know, who bought the book for his friend's daughter because she was being teased at school because of her looks."

To help their children embrace and love their own unique beauty, Rebecca advises parents to expose their children to books and movies that reflect diversity.

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She believes it's important that parents don't subscribe to stereotypical ideas of a "perfect face or a perfect body," and that talking to their children when related issues arise will help them understand where their little ones stand on beauty.

Rebecca says that she stays away from beauty and fashion magazines because she finds them to be damaging to young people and believes that children and teens don't need those things to feel beautiful. "They already glow with a beauty from within, and knowing that helps their beauty to shine through," she tells us.

Rebecca perfectly sums up beauty for BuzzFeed as...

Heetal Dattani Joshi/Rebecca Manari

"...something that is completely natural and forever present in you; and requires no trying, no teaching, nothing external, no alteration. Every face looks beautiful when it is lit up with a happy smile. A crooked tooth, wrinkled skin, or laugh lines couldn't ever take away from your beauty. A smile comes very easily to anybody. And the best part? It costs nothing!"

Brown Like Dosas, Samosas, And Sticky Chikki is available in all leading bookstores in India and here.