PATCHWORK PRINCE

You don’t have to be rich to be a prince.

A young boy and his mother—both Black and described, respectively, as a prince and a queen—set out early one morning. A truck dumps pieces of fabric before peeling away, and the two start to go through the abandoned scraps. But the truck returns, and now the driver has a box of matches: “a signal that poor families were not welcome.” The prince and his mother cram their bags with fabric before the driver sets fire to the fabric. Back at home, the child scrubs the floors while the queen measures, cuts, and lays out the pieces before carefully stitching them together to make a patchwork garment fit for a young prince. “Each piece tells a story,” his mother tells him. “Black for beauty. Gold for royalty. Blue for dignity.” The prince dons his new outfit, and the two dance together. Then the prince runs outside, where friends admire his ensemble. In an author’s note, Paul describes how the story is rooted in a childhood memory of salvaging fabric with his mother in St. Lucia. Thomas’ vibrant illustrations are filled with energy and movement, with swirls of color and yellow stars dancing across the spreads. Paul’s text makes wonderful use of specific details; together text and images speak to the resilience of the human spirit and the ability to reinvent what others deem trash.

A tender reminder that treasure can come from anywhere.