Smile with African Style

by Mylo Freeman

Overview

It's a special day in Macy's classroom as all the children come in dressed up in their most stylish African clothing! Zahra's Ethiopian dress is covered in beads, while Malika's Namibian outfit is bursting with colours. And who is hiding behind that elephant mask from Cameroon? No two outfits are the same, in this beautiful and varied parade of clothing from across Africa!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781913175184
Publisher:	Cassava Republic Press
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Series:	Macy World
Pages:	27
Product dimensions:	10.23(w) x 8.30(h) x (d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 12 Years

About the Author

Mylo Freeman grew up in The Hague and lives in Amsterdam. She has been a full-time writer-illustrator since 1993 and has published over 50 picture books. Her debut book Potty! was awarded the Kiek Book Prize and has been translated into many languages.

Editorial Reviews

★ 2021-07-27
Macy proposes to celebrate African heritage in a very visible way.

A little brown-skinned Black girl with two Afro puffs, Macy greets her teacher, Miss Brown, and compliments her dress. Miss Brown, who is also Black, identifies the fabric as typical of West Africa. When Macy suggests that her classmates each wear an outfit from a different African country, Miss Brown loves the idea. The following week, Miss Brown points to Kenya on an African map as Naomi models a Kenyan Masai dress made with red shuka cloth and colorful beaded necklaces. Macy’s classmates wear Ghanaian Ashanti kente cloth; Angolan, Namibian and Ethiopian garb; a Nigerian ceremonial outfit, the agbada; a Rwandan Tutsi warrior’s clothing; and a Cameroonian elephant mask with matching outfit. Macy arrives late with a special surprise that makes everyone smile. Freeman’s colorful, detailed illustrations represent children with different hairstyles and skin tones, including one with albinism. A richer story would have given the children personal connections with the countries they represent. But even lacking that, this wonderful display of traditional clothing encourages readers to appreciate diversity within Africa and will spark interest in learning about the origins of these beautiful, colorful fabrics and the people who wear them, since clothing expresses culture in so many ways. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A beautifully illustrated Afrocentric story that inspires as it informs. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews