PARATOU, THE UMBRELLA

A story of what happens when we share.

Sékou, the village chief’s oldest son, travels to market with his father and returns with an object that no one thinks they need during the dry season in this West African village: a colorful umbrella. Standing on a chair, the boy announces the umbrella’s availability to everyone, provided they return it to his father’s hut each evening. A mother shades her newborn beneath it; boys make money by using it as the roof of a “pee-shack” for bus travelers; and fishermen can use it to keep the elephants’ spray from soaking them at the riverside. By the time the umbrella returns, tattered and torn, Sékou has become the village chief, and his son starts the sharing cycle all over again. Traoré creates arresting cut-paper collage illustrations with bright, bold colors and simple shapes against generous white space that will invite readers back to the pages again and again. Reminiscent of Synthia Saint James’ artwork, the characters in this picture book have no facial features, but Traoré portrays them so expressively that they don’t need them; one can easily read joy, impatience, excitement, and welcome in their body language. The use of brown type against the constant white background reminds readers that brown is the visual default in this world of beautiful Black people. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Culturally immersive, exquisitely illustrated, and endearingly playful, this French import should be as widely shared as the umbrella.