A loving embrace of faith and family and a wonderful window into Nigerian culture.
Eight-year-old Olu visits her mother’s family in Ijebu, Nigeria, as they observe Eid al-Adha.
Olu travels from Lagos with her mother, her uncle, and her siblings for the Muslim holiday. Although her family is Catholic, like many Nigerians, her extended family includes members of other faiths, who celebrate their respective traditions together. Olu is excited because this year she will get to help her grandmother Iya Akin cook the feast. The trip is filled with the sights and sounds of Nigeria: “Smells of crunchy dundun and sweet puff puff frying fill the air.” “Impatient drivers honk and honk. / Street hawkers walk and hawk.” “Roads marked with black-and-white lane dividers / Make the highway look like racing zebras.” When Olu arrives, her grandfather chants a Yoruba greeting: “Olubunmi! My gift from God! / Daughter of Akinpelumi! / Descendant of Asemperi! / Born of Ondo soil! / My American child!” And so begins the visit, full of traditional foods and celebrations, which are described in vivid detail. Vibrant, rich illustrations make use of flat colors and complement the sensorial text, bringing to life the energy of Nigeria. In their author’s and illustrator’s notes, Emenanjo and Ejaita share their personal inspirations and connections to the story.
A loving embrace of faith and family and a wonderful window into Nigerian culture. (information on Nigeria, map, glossary, recipe for puff puff, photos) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781646868438
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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