The story is about 5-year-old Sulwe, a girl who has the darkest skin in her family, and wants to be beautiful like her mother and sister. With her name meaning “star,” the young girl takes a magical trip through the night sky and learns to appreciate her beauty. "Listening to a book read aloud is such a personal, intimate way to experience the characters and story," Nyong'o tells PEOPLE.

"I wanted to narrate the audiobook for Sulwe myself in order to bring to life the characters as I had imagined them in my head when writing the book.” Nyong’o says the character of Mama is inspired by her own, who uses “warmth, calm and compassion” to guide her to this day. The audiobook edition of Sulwe is slated for a February 23 release via Listening Library. Sulwe earned a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Children's Literary Work.

It was illustrated by Vashti Harrison and inspired by Nyong'o's own experiences with colorism. "Although colorism is a heavy topic," she said during a 2019 interview with PEOPLE. "It was important to me that Sulwe's story have warmth, whimsy and exist in a land of dreams."