A unique, well-conceived take on using food to discover the essence of home.
A child rethinks her definition of home in Jalloh’s second picture book.
Elementary-schooler Mariama loves living in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where she can get banana akara ice cream and play football at the beach with her friends. When her parents announce that the family will be taking a trip back to her father’s home village of Kabala, Mariama can’t hide her disappointment. “But I don’t want another home,” she says to herself, “my home is here in Freetown with all my friends.” In Kabala, she is welcomed warmly by her extended family, but she doesn’t start to feel comfortable until her uncle takes her to meet his neighbor Pa Bah who lets her try thiakry, a dessert made from couscous. Mariama enjoys this experience but still misses home. It isn’t until Mariama celebrates the Kabala Festival and Pa Bah creates a thiakry dish with a twist that she learns to love both of her homes equally. Jalloh’s follow-up to The Biggest Little Brother (2017) is a thoughtful and visually dynamic exploration of the different ways we experience “home.” The author highlights a rarely studied country in American children’s literature and doesn’t shy from confronting the complexity of Mariama’s homesickness. Ӧzcan’s illustrations of the cities and countryside of Sierra Leone are vivid; they bring the nation’s culture to life with well-placed embellishments, such as the stars around Mariama’s spoon as she declares her love for banana thiakry.
A unique, well-conceived take on using food to discover the essence of home.Pub Date: June 17, 2023
ISBN: 979-8988009009
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Readers Inspired
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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