Toto by Hyewon Yum is currently available, but I had an online reader copy. Things are cute, but also serious as we are dealing with a birthmark on our narrator’s face. The usual things happen (people stare, the girl is nervous about it, her mother tries to hide it) but it is at school when our gal learns how special her mark (that she calls Toto) is.
Things did not “wow” me, but I enjoyed the book. It is a nice addition to the idea of being different because of how we look . The character is diverse, the age is younger, but still keeps a matureness that doesn’t make light of things. It is even good for us adults as the author has an afterword that talks about how they have experienced this issue in different ways, how they reacted and how it changed them, showing that the theme is universal.
The illustrations (according to the publisher’s description) are “largely grayscale illustrations in pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor visually foreground the birthmark,” which is pink. The cover shows you how things will be. They are nice, sweet and simple. They allow the reader to focus on the birthmark and how that is affecting our narrator and the story itself. Overall, this book could work for any age, but probably is best for the four and up crowd. And while the early reader could read it, it might be best as a one-on-one read or for a small group of people in a read aloud setting.