Malaika’s Costume (The Malaika Series, 1)

Malaika waits anxiously for the money her mother, off working in distant Canada, had promised to send back for her Carnival costume in this engaging picture-book. When the money isn't forthcoming, and her grandmother unpacks her own girlhood costume, the young Caribbean girl (no country is named),

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who had dreamed of being a colorful peacock, can't contain her anger and disappointment, running off down her street. Eventually coming her to senses, Malaika visits Ms. Chin the tailor lady, coming away with a bag of scraps that she and Grandma can use to make that old costume new...

Malaika's Costume is author Nadia L. Hohn's debut picture-book, although there is a sequel, Malaika's Winter Carnival, that has been published since it was first released a few years ago. The story is engaging, the text alternating between the narration, in standard North American English, and the dialogue, written in Caribbean dialect. Although this will undoubtedly be a challenge for some young readers and listeners, it also makes the story more authentic, and isn't a bar to understanding. Having seen the author perform the story - in a gorgeous Carnival costume of her own, no less - I know this to be the case. The themes explored in the story, of poverty and making do, of child-parent separation due to the necessity of migrating for work, are poignant and powerful. The artwork, done by Irene Luxbacher in gorgeously colorful collage, is well-suited to the tale, especially the section in which Malaika and her grandmother piece together the costume. Recommended to anyone looking for picture-books set in the Caribbean, about the celebration of Carnival, or featuring children separated from their parents because of economic hardship.

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