KENTE COLORS
by Debbi Chocolate & illustrated by John Ward
As Chocolate (My First Kwanzaa Book, 1992, not reviewed, etc.) states in her introduction, kente is a bright, colorful cloth made by the Ashante and the Ewe in Ghana and Togo. The text consists of short, loose rhymes—a line per page—describing the various colors of the cloth, and explaining some of their symbolic significance. The rich illustrations depict people wearing garments of different colors in a variety of contexts (work, wedding, etc.). These group portraits under generally African skies interpret the rhymes in a realistic and thoughtful way; simply composed tableaux convey a consistently strong sense of people and landscapes. (Picture book. 4-8)