There's a beautiful pattern and rhythm in the sound and sense of this story, whose images echo the music of its language. In Mali, women make the bògòlan, a mud-dyed cloth, and a young girl named Nakunte Diarra learns the art from her mother. As she grows up, the whole village comes to her for cloth, and when she marries, she wears the bògòlan her mother made for her. Nakunte then begins to make a bògòlan for her own child, and she is inspired by the patterns in what is around her. "Listen, my baby, do you hear the drums that call?" she says, painting an abstract pattern of drum forms in cloth stripes. The leopard's spots, the scorpion's tail, the calabash flower, the turtledove's footprints, each creates a pattern that Nakunte paints into her cloth, speaking to her baby about the creatures she sees. The bògòlan is done when the rains come—the time for the baby—and the child is wrapped in the gorgeous black-and-white cloth. Winter uses colors as luscious as tropical fruit setting off the contrast of the shimmering bògòlan. The flattened picture space dances with shape and form: dots, leaves, triangles, stripes. Winter, as she did in My Name Is Georgia, uses a real artist's work as the basis for a visual feast. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 9, 2001
ISBN: 0-374-35103-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An exuberant celebration of family.
A mixed-race child reflects on how much better Mom's and Dad’s lives are “now that I’m here.”
The irrepressible (“HA! HA! HA!”) narrator of this story—a dark-haired, pink-skinned, wide-eyed child—paints a vivid picture of daily life then and now. Readers will appreciate the stark contrasts drawn in two-page spreads (see: Mom and Dad sleeping peacefully with a rotund gray pug; now see: Mom, Dad, and dog fighting for space in a rumpled bed awash with toys, a gleeful child draped over them all). Meshon’s use of color, juxtaposing blues and greens for life then and reds and oranges for life now, further conveys the drastic changes wrought by the child. Bold, hand-lettered, capitalized text adds clarity and humor. It doesn’t always work: It may not be entirely clear to readers why Mom and Dad no longer buy lunch (but their bento boxes do look “way better”!), and some of the pre-child pages still feel a bit busy. The chaotic love and joy of this family shine through, though, and the depiction of the family’s blended culture is natural and seamless. Dad, with pale skin, light brown hair, and his croissant, espresso, and spaghetti, reads as white; Mom, with light skin, black hair, and her natto, matcha, and ramen, appears to be Japanese.
An exuberant celebration of family. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2936-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
A fresh, melodic take on family harmony.
Rock legends, husband-and-wife team, and proud grandparents Benatar and Giraldo present an upbeat ode to families.
A youngster with long blond hair confides conspiratorially, “This might come as a bit of a shock, // but my grandma and grandpa…ROCK!” The silver-haired duo—who resemble the co-authors—jam out in a practice space; Grandpa strums an electric guitar, while Grandma belts out a tune, microphone in hand. (All three are pale-skinned.) Jagged star strokes burst from the amps, reverberating across the page. As the young narrator sings the praises of these hip, artistically minded grandparents, the illustrations depict many varied, diverse families making music. One grandparent strums a ukulele, another prefers the drums, and an especially eclectic granny croons everything from lullabies to Led Zeppelin while cooking. There’s no wrong way to share joy with grandparents. Benatar and Giraldo acknowledge that you don’t have to be a musician to rock (“Anyone can rock! / It’s a state of mind, / like feeling happy or being kind”) as they speak to other passions and occupations (“They can be a plumber, a chef, a pilot, a teacher”). One spread showcases other names for grandparents, both colloquial and cultural, presented without disrupting the text’s rhythm. As expected, this pair lays down a steady beat with a smooth flow. Everett’s energetic art, with musical swooshes and swirls, buoys the text.
A fresh, melodic take on family harmony. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781728298023
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
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