Sharon G Flake’s “The Skin I’m In” takes place mainly at McClenton Middle School. McClenton is where the main character, Maleeka, attends and also where she gets bullied a lot. People would make fun of her for her smarts and the fact that teachers like her. But they would make fun of her mainly for her looks. When new teacher, Mrs. Saunders, comes to sight with a discolored blotch on her face, Maleeka notices that Mrs. Saunders loves herself and begins to try to do the same.
In the beginning of the book, Maleeka explains that she gets bullied a lot by the same people about the same things. Her peers would make fun of her for her good grades and how smart she is. But they’d also make fun of her for her looks. They’d make fun of her hair, her homemade clothes, and her dark skin. She explains that she became insecure after her father’s death and her mom began sewing clothes that weren’t good. She began to ‘hang out’ with a girl named Charlese. Charlese was mean to Maleeka but she agreed to give her “good clothes” if she did her homework. After she meets her new teacher, Mrs. Saunders, Maleeka notices that she loves herself despite the discolored blotch over half of her face.
Throughout the book, Maleeka begins to stand up for herself and she also begins to try loving herself. But in the middle of the story, Maleeka gets attacked. Two boys on the street began harassing her on her way home, calling her “black bean”. When she gets home she tells Sweets not to tell anybody. Maleeka stops eating regularly and continues playing along with Char.
A while after the attack, Maleeka starts to be more confident in herself and begins dating Caleb again. She changes her attitude and the way she speaks. She also defends herself against Char. She’s no longer friends with Char, Raina and Raise. Maleeka begins to love herself. She says that she is proud of who she is and that she has value.
Some people would say that the theme or lesson of this book is to be confident and to love yourself the way you are. Others would say that it’s to treat people with respect. An example for the first one is that how Maleeka used to be insecure and she didn’t love herself. She was shy and quiet. She begins to develop more confidence and she starts to defend herself. The second one is an example of how Char, John-John and her other peers would treat her. They’d insult her about her smarts and looks, bringing down her confidence. A lot of people would say that both of those ideas are good themes for this book. Personally, I think so too.