Nice to see a strong story about family separation and living with a parent far away. ( )

Top 100 pick because:

Mixed media collage, pencil drawing and bold colorful illustrations provide a look into the bright stylized images of Caribbean life. Heart-warming and authentic story. From the colloquial voice of Malaika to the picture of her mother crying while looking at letters from home, I feel the emotion put into the book. ( )

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), 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. ( )