Growing up, Melinda Suzensky knew right away she was different from her peers.

A biracial girl in the predominantly white Allegheny Valley School District, she was bullied for looking different. She described it as being “a chocolate chip within marshmallows in a bowl.”

“It was something they weren’t used to seeing,” she said.

It was a challenge for her to embrace the skin she was in because Suzensky realized being biracial was not a part of curriculums taught in school. When she visited the school’s library, she was unable to find books to help her embrace her identity.

Suzensky, now a resident of Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood, went on to become an elementary school teacher in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. She searched for books on diversity and lessons to teach to her classes.

Her experience compelled her to write a children’s book about it: “I Fit In With the Skin I’m In.”

The book features a girl, Ariana, who has a white mother and Black father. Throughout the book, Ariana explores the differences of her parents’ skin color while trying to embrace hers. Her teacher would help her learn to feel good about the skin she is in and the person she can become.

The process was difficult for Suzensky, who said bad memories resurfaced as she wrote the book. But she knew publishing it would pay off.

“It was hard, but I realized I was making a difference, and that was the goal,” she said.

Her goal came true Friday morning, when she visited her alma mater to read her book to three kindergarten classes at Acmetonia Elementary School in Harmar. Suzensky read to the class and explained the meanings behind some of the pages.

She interacted with students in class, asking them how they liked the book and what they learned from it. In Kelly DiPalma’s class of 20 students, a hand was raised every second to tell Suzensky how much they loved her book.

At one point, they were able to guess the book was a reflection of her personal life.

She wanted the kids to learn what was important is not the outside but what’s on the inside.

“It was exciting and rejuvenating,” Suzensky said. “I wanted to take my personal experience and have kids have the opportunity to get in touch with their lives as biracial kids.”

Suzensky published the book in 2020, something she wanted to do when she turned 50. DiPalma said the visit was two years in the making because of the delay from covid.

When DiPalma heard a fellow alum had published a children’s book, she wanted her kids to have the opportunity to learn about an important topic. She thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids to meet an author.

“I thought it was a good topic for them to learn,” she said. “We have been learning about acceptance and being kind to others.”

Suzensky said that while books about diversity were a rarity when she was growing up, she knows they’ve become more common. She plans to contribute more, with her next book focusing on a biracial boy.

“I Fit In With the Skin I’m In” is locally available at Riverstone Books, with locations in McCandless Crossing and Squirrel Hill, and online at Amazon.com.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)