Participating in a first Carnival since her mother moved away to find a better job, young Malaika fears she will not be able to dance in the parade without a costume and gratefully accepts a tailor's bag filled with scrap fabric to create a patchwork rainbow peacock outfit. - (Baker & Taylor)
Participating in a first Carnival since her mother left to find a better job, Malaika fears she will not be able to dance in the parade without a costume and comes up with an idea to use scrap fabric to create a patchwork rainbow peacock outfit. - (Baker & Taylor)
Malaika’s mother can’t buy her a carnival costume — will she still be able to dance in the parade? - (Perseus Publishing)
Malaika’s mother can’t buy her a carnival costume — will she still be able to dance in the parade?
It’s carnival time — the first carnival since Malaika’s mother moved to Canada to find a good job and provide for Malaika and her grandmother. Her mother promised she would send money for a costume, and Malaika marks off the days on her calendar as she waits for Mummy’s letter to arrive. But when the letter finally comes, Malaika learns that there is no money for her costume.
Disappointed and upset at the thought of wearing her grandmother’s hand-me-down costume, Malaika leaves the house, running into Ms. Chin, the tailor, who offers Malaika a bag of scrap fabric. With her grandmother’s help, Malaika creates a patchwork rainbow peacock costume, and dances proudly in the parade.
This heartwarming story about family, community and the celebration of carnival is written in a blend of standard English and Caribbean patois. Nadia L. Hohn’s warm prose and Irene Luxbacher’s vibrant collage-style illustrations make this a strikingly original picture book.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.6
With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.1
Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
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Perseus Publishing)
Nadia L. Hohn is a writer, musician and educator. The manuscript of Malaika’s Costume, her first picture book, won the Helen Isobel Sissons Canadian Children’s Story Award. She is also the author of two forthcoming non-fiction titles, Music and Media Studies, part of the Sankofa series, which won the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for Multicultural Non-Fiction. She lives in Toronto, where she teaches French, music and the arts at an alternative elementary school.
Irene Luxbacher is an artist and author living in Toronto, Canada. With more than fifteen years’ experience as an illustrator, Irene has received numerous awards for her children’s instructional and picture books. Some of her awards include the 2003 National Parenting Publications Gold Award, the 2004 Disney Book Award and the 2007 Ontario Library Association Award. In 2009/10 Irene made the USBBY Outstanding International Books Honor List and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, both for her illustrations in Andrew Larsen’s The Imaginary Garden.
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Perseus Publishing)
Nadia L. Hohn is a writer, musician and educator. The manuscript of Malaika's Costume, her first picture book, won the Helen Isobel Sissons Canadian Children's Story Award. She is also the author of two forthcoming non-fiction titles, Music and Media Studies, part of the Sankofa series, which won the Moonbeam Children's Book Award for Multicultural Non-Fiction. She lives in Toronto, where she teaches French, music and the arts at an alternative elementary school.
Irene Luxbacher is an artist and author living in Toronto, Canada. With more than fifteen years' experience as an illustrator, Irene has received numerous awards for her children's instructional and picture books. Some of her awards include the 2003 National Parenting Publications Gold Award, the 2004 Disney Book Award and the 2007 Ontario Library Association Award. In 2009/10 Irene made the USBBY Outstanding International Books Honor List and was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award, both for her illustrations in Andrew Larsen's The Imaginary Garden.
- (
Perseus Publishing)
Booklist Reviews
Malaika's mother has moved to Canada, where she hopes to find a better way to support the family she left behind in Jamaica. Malaika misses her mother terribly, but she is also worried about her lack of a costume for the upcoming carnival. She dreams of being a rainbow peacock, but first she must find a way to make her costume. With the help of fabric scraps donated by Mrs. Chin, the tailor, and Grandma's sewing talents, Malaika's dream might just come true. Like a rainbow peacock itself, the illustrations in this book burst with a frenzy of colors and textures. Mixed-media collages and pencil drawings are offset by swathes of white space that highlight the bold colors and rhythmic forms. The story comes to a touching close with an image of a tearful Mummy in Canada, holding a photograph of Malaika at the carnival, reminding readers that home can sometimes be a letter away. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
