About the Book

A HEARTFELT STORY ABOUT SARAYU, A BROWN GIRL WHO MOVES TO INDIA FOR A FEW MONTHS AND SLOWLY LEARNS TO UNDERSTAND HER SKIN COLOUR, HER FAMILY AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BELONG IN TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS.
Sarayu has always known she looks a little different from her friends at school. But she has never thought too much about it, until a sudden move to India turns her world upside down. Now she's surrounded by cousins, aunties, neighbours and even a grandmother who all seem to have strong opinions about how she looks ... especially her skin colour.
So many questions swirl in Sarayu's mind. Why do people care so much about skin colour? Why does her Nani keep calling her kaali? And why does it hurt in a way she can't explain? Happily, between her new classes, long chats with her dad across time zones and the warmth of her Bengaluru family, Sarayu begins to find people she can trust, and the courage to ask the questions that matter.
Why Is My Skin Brown? is a warm, thoughtful chapter book about growing up between cultures, understanding identity and learning to love what makes you special.

About the Author

Lakshmi Iyer is the author of Why Is My Hair Curly? (Red Panda, 2020), the essay collection The Smudged Hyphen (2026), and the novels Hindsight (2024) and A Star Keeps Its Distance (2026). She writes about identity, belonging, and family across cultures.
Her writing has appeared in The Hindu, Adoptive Families, Motherwell Magazine, and Verve India, and she has spoken on NPR's The Takeaway and BBC Asia.
Born in Nannilam, Tamil Nadu, she lives with her family near Philadelphia, in the US. She writes at lgiyer.com.