THE TASTE 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.