YAYA AND THE SEA

A little girl learns how the important women in her life honor the sea.

Awakening from dreams of being a mermaid, Yaya prepares for a trip through New York City to the sea on the first day of spring. Yaya and her mother bundle up, get breakfast quickly at the bodega, and board the subway. Mama’s close friends Auntie Stefanie, Auntie Renee, and Auntie Dream greet mother and daughter warmly, and they ride the train to the end of the line. They all get quiet as they approach the beach and walk toward the water with reverence and respect. Each woman has brought gifts for Mama Ocean, as they call her: flowers, watermelon slices, shiny dimes, patterned fabrics, a ring, molasses. Yaya waits on the blanket, as Mama has instructed her, and watches while the four women walk into the water to thank the ocean. Engel’s deeply saturated acrylic images convey a sense of tranquility as the women bond, share an intimate friendship, and bring Yaya into their tradition of leaving markers of the past behind to start afresh with the coming of spring. Engel also shows the women’s individuality through their expressions, their hairstyles, their attires, and the nature of the gifts they bring. Yaya, her mother, and her aunties present Black.

A beautiful, uniquely told story of gratitude and togetherness.