Toto - by Hyewon Yum (Hardcover)

About the Book

A little girl, self-conscious about her birthmark named Toto, worries her school friend will see her differently when her birthmark is revealed, but is pleasantly surprised by her friend's reaction.

Book Synopsis

A little girl is self-conscious about the birthmark on her forehead-- until a new friend helps her see it in a whole new light.

This little girl doesn't mind her birthmark, most of the time. She calls it Toto, and her mom calls it a kiss from an angel. But sometimes, it feels like people look so hard at Toto they forget to see her. So when it's time to start school, her mom cuts her bangs to cover Toto up, at least for a little while.

At school, she makes a new best friend right away! But then Toto accidentally comes out of hiding. Will her new friend see her differently with Toto in the picture? And does different have to be bad?

Award-winning creator Hyewon Yum's knack for the adorable is at full power in Toto. This warm and vulnerable story grapples with the pressure we feel to blend in, and celebrates the moments--and the friends--that remind us how much better it is to be our full and singular selves.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
One of Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books
Longlisted for the Pedro and Daniel Intersectionality Book Award

Review Quotes

A gentle, uplifting story of facial difference, self-acceptance, and the impact of friendship.
--Booklist

Kiddos can take inspiration from Toto to help them work through their own insecurities.
--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Yum finds words for myriad feelings around embodiment, giving readers language to consider their own experiences and imagine others'.
--Publishers Weekly

A sweet, uplifting take on facial difference, friendship, and self-acceptance.
--Kirkus Reviews

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.
--The Horn Book

Toto is an it's-okay-to-be-different book that leaves room for realistically mixed feelings about standing apart.
--Shelf Awareness

Yum's pleasing colored pencil and watercolor style is present here, and her talent for minimalistic expression shines through the limited color palette. . . . A unique addition to any collection.
--School Library Journal

About the Author

Hyewon Yum is the author and illustrator of several acclaimed books for children. Her titles include This Is Our House, The Twins' Blanket, There Are No Scary Wolves, Last Night, winner of an Honorable Mention Bologna Ragazzi Award and an SCBWI Golden Kite Award, and Mom, It's My First Day of Kindergarten!, which received the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award. She is also the illustrator of Maya Myers's Not Little and Not Perfect. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.