Toto

January 1, 2025
"Toto" isn't the young protagonist's name but rather what she calls the large birthmark on her forehead. Opening lines read, "Sometimes I wonder how I would look without Toto." Despite loving support from family who ascribe positive meaning to the birthmark -- it means she has superpowers, or that an angel kissed her, and it is her grandmother's favorite spot to kiss -- the girl can tell that "sometimes people only see Toto, not me." Yum's limited palette of sepia, gray, black, and white in the mixed-media illustrations effectively reflects this worry by contrasting with the pink of the birthmark, making it stand out. Before school starts, the girl's mother gives her a haircut with bangs, covering Toto. Once at school, she quickly befriends a girl named Niko, and all is well until she hangs upside down on the monkey bars and her bangs fall aside. At this vulnerable, climactic moment, Yum slows the story's pace to devote several spreads to the narrator's anguished embarrassment and Niko's kind response. "The birthmark on your face means that you have another life!" Niko exclaims, sharing something that her aunt (who "knows everything") told her. Niko's excitement and wonder allow the narrator to adjust her perspective, rightly concluding that Toto makes her "extraordinary" and that without it, "I might not look like ME at all." Megan Dowd Lambert

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

December 1, 2024
Preschool-Grade 3 An unnamed girl feels self-conscious about a birthmark on her forehead that she calls Toto. While her mom calls Toto "a kiss from an angel, a blessing," the young girl does not like being asked about Toto and sometimes feels like it's all people see when they look at her. Before school starts, she gets bangs so Toto will be covered up. She quickly becomes good friends with another little girl, Niko. While upside down on the monkey bars, Toto emerges, and to the girl's surprise, Niko says she's "jealous" because the birthmark on her face means she has "another life." Niko tells the girl she's "just extraordinary," and now she sees Toto and herself in a completely different light. With simple sentences and grayscale illustrations using pencils, colored pencils, and watercolor, Yum capably depicts the characters' facial expressions and highlights the birthmark and how it changes depending on the protagonist's emotions. An author's note sharing the story's inspiration concludes. A gentle, uplifting story of facial difference, self-acceptance, and the impact of friendship.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2024
A child feels self-conscious about the birthmark on her forehead. Mom says the birthmark is an angel's kiss, and cousin Charlie says it's a superpower. Still, the unnamed protagonist wonders how she'd look without the mark, which she's named Toto. And when strangers ask about Toto, the narrator's face reddens, and she "cannot say a word." Pink-hued Toto and the narrator's crimson cheeks stand out against the sepia-toned backdrops, emphasizing the narrator's feeling that "sometimes people only see Toto, not me." So when Mom proposes concealing Toto under the child's bangs before school starts, she agrees. At school, she quickly befriends a girl named Niko. But when the narrator hangs upside down from the monkey bars, Toto is revealed. To the protagonist's astonishment, Niko thinks she's "just extraordinary"--"The birthmark on your face means that you have another life!" Later, the narrator muses that without Toto, "I might not look like ME at all. And I might not feel extraordinary." Using short sentences and appealing kid logic, Yum, who based the story on a friend's daughter's experience and her own childhood memories of fielding questions about a birthmark on her leg, introduces young readers to the idea of facial difference. The narrator's and Niko's doll-like faces are endearing, conveying joy, embarrassment, and surprise through simple lines. The protagonist and her family have skin the white of the page and present East Asian; Niko has darker skin. A sweet, uplifting take on facial difference, friendship, and self-acceptance.(Picture book. 4-8)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 7, 2024
In this personal-feeling work, Yum (Luli and the Language of Tea) dives into an experience of having a visible birthmark—and navigating being one’s full self. Largely grayscale illustrations in pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor visually foreground the birthmark, called Toto, on the child narrator’s forehead. As the book opens, the child wonders, “how I would look without Toto. Would I look pretty? Would I look plain?” The child’s cousin says that Toto’s presence “means I have a superpower,” while “Mom says it’s a kiss from an angel, a blessing.” Unwanted attention is nevertheless irksome: when people ask about Toto, “my face gets red and I cannot say a word.” For the start of school, the child’s mother cuts forehead-covering bangs. This means that new friend Niko doesn’t see Toto until the protagonist hangs upside down on the playground, where a surprised moment resolves into a new way of perceiving Toto. Yum finds words for myriad feelings around embodiment, giving readers language to consider their own experiences and imagine others’. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. Agent: Sean McCarthy, Sean McCarthy Literary.

January 1, 2025
"Toto" isn't the young protagonist's name but rather what she calls the large birthmark on her forehead. Opening lines read, "Sometimes I wonder how I would look without Toto." Despite loving support from family who ascribe positive meaning to the birthmark -- it means she has superpowers, or that an angel kissed her, and it is her grandmother's favorite spot to kiss -- the girl can tell that "sometimes people only see Toto, not me." Yum's limited palette of sepia, gray, black, and white in the mixed-media illustrations effectively reflects this worry by contrasting with the pink of the birthmark, making it stand out. Before school starts, the girl's mother gives her a haircut with bangs, covering Toto. Once at school, she quickly befriends a girl named Niko, and all is well until she hangs upside down on the monkey bars and her bangs fall aside. At this vulnerable, climactic moment, Yum slows the story's pace to devote several spreads to the narrator's anguished embarrassment and Niko's kind response. "The birthmark on your face means that you have another life!" Niko exclaims, sharing something that her aunt (who "knows everything") told her. Niko's excitement and wonder allow the narrator to adjust her perspective, rightly concluding that Toto makes her "extraordinary" and that without it, "I might not look like ME at all."

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)