A 2024 Skipping Stones Honor Award Winner


Hi!! I'm Epi Dermis, but my friends just call me Skin!


Raise your hands if you sweat, tan, itch, have hair, or have freckles!  

I've been feeling pretty sensitive lately because everybody has something to say about me. But people don't always tell the truth.

My color doesn't make me fast, strong, smart, or scary. I just want to shout, "It's just skin, silly!" 

"[A]n irresistibly brilliant, pitch-perfect page-turner that should be a must-read in every Pre-K and Elementary School in our country." — Henry Louis Gates Jr

An illustrated children's book on the evolution of skin color, based on a collective 40+ years of peer-reviewed research from expert anthropologist Dr. Nina Jablonski and historian Dr. Holly Y. McGee, with a special foreword from celebrated literary critic and historian Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Meet Epi Dermis, your kid's quirky, clever guide to the origin of skin color! Using simple science and interactive activities, Epi takes readers on an adventure through human history to find out why skin is the hardest working organ in the body business. Whether it’s how migration and climate changed our skin's need for melanin, to why sweat is your body’s secret superpower, Epi’s got all the facts—and uses them to challenge false narratives about race and give kids the information they need to do the same.

Illustrated by: Karen Vermeulen
Foreword by: Henry Louis Gates