Hyewon Yum, author and illustrator of several acclaimed children's books, offers this wisdom in her note accompanying Toto: "We all have something that sets us apart from others: skin color, hair, accent. I think that only makes us all the more extraordinary."
The little girl in her story has a mixed relationship with what sets her apart: her prominently visible birthmark, which she calls "Toto." She wonders how she would look without it: pretty? plain? In spite of her family being supportive, she knows that "... sometimes people only see Toto, not me." In the accompanying picture, we see the outline of the girl's head, her hairline, and Toto, but no features — the alarming blankness of being invisible to others.
When her new best friend Niko catches a glimpse of Toto, the girl is terrified that Niko will find the birthmark strange or ugly. But just as the girl is about to turn away and hide her face, she gets a big surprise, a remark that will forever change her life for the better.
The author has had her own experience with birthmarks — her own and others' — and channels this experience into this book's compassionate warmth. To transform shame into confidence is magic that will benefit the four-to-eight-year-old readers for whom this book is written and all of us who get to delight in its charming art and kind message.
