Children’s Book ‘The Skin You Live In’ Back in the Spotlight


There is renewed interest in a children’s book written and illustrated by a couple of Chicagoans. “The Skin You Live In” was published in 2005 by the Chicago Children’s Museum.

Author Michael Tyler says it was a yearlong effort that “required 10 years and 147 rejections by traditional publishing houses. I finally took it to the Chicago Children’s Museum, and the book was very successful right off the bat,” he said.

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“I wrote ‘The Skin You Live In’ to promote acceptance, and I think that in this moment right now where we’ve seen division on a magnitude that we haven’t seen since 1968, perhaps, that this book can emerge as a tool for educators and parents to try to give that lesson to their children about acceptance. And it’s also the kind of book that when adults read it, it gives them a little internal audit themselves. So that’s what I’m hoping it’ll do in the moment,” Tyler said.

Illustrator David Lee Csicsko says the book is a “really gentle way to talk about important issues.

“The book has always found its audience, from hospitals to schools and arts centers. With what’s going on now, the book has been a really gentle way to talk about important issues,” Csicsko said.


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