Leah's Mustache Party

by Nadia Mike, Charlene Chua (Illustrator)

Overview

"Quirky, playful, affirming fun!"—Kirkus

Four-year-old Leah loved being a pirate for Halloween. She never considered being a princess or a fairy, no matter what her friends said.
But once Halloween has come and gone, Leah misses so many things about her costume. She misses her sword. She misses saying "Arrrr!" But most of all, she misses her silly mustache.
But Leah knows that it doesn't have to be Halloween to play dress up. She can wear a mustache whenever she wants! She can wear one while she's watching a movie, or riding her bike, or playing her favourite game.
So when Leah's birthday finally arrives, she knows exactly what she wants to do: have a party where everyone must wear a mustache! At Leah's mustache party, everyone gets in on the dress-up fun, even Grandma!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781772270815
Publisher:	Inhabit Media
Publication date:	05/11/2016
Edition description:	English Edition
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Nadia Mike is an Inuit educator who graduated with a Bachelor of Education from the University of Regina. Although Nadia has lived in many communities across the North, she considers Iqaluit, Nunavut, her home. Nadia has two daughters, Leah and Jaime, who constantly teach her to be less serious and enjoy every day. These two girls have also reminded Nadia of the importance of children’s literature, and having stories with settings, characters, and themes that show children that their lives and cultures are important enough to be in books. Nadia loves to travel, cook, sew, and drink strong coffee. In 2014, Nadia published her first book, an Inuktitut-language first-words board book. In 2016, she published Leah’s Mustache Party, her first picture book, followed by Ukaliq and Kalla Go Fishing in 2017.

Charlene Chua worked as a web designer, senior graphic designer, web producer, and interactive project manager before she decided to pursue illustration as a career. Her work has appeared in American Illustration, Spectrum, and SILA’s Illustration West, as well as several art books. She illustrated the children’s picture books Julie Black Belt: The Kung Fu Chronicles and Julie Black Belt: The Belt of Fire. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with her husband and two cats.

Editorial Reviews

Quirky, playful, affirming fun!”—Kirkus Reviews

“. . . [A]cceptance of Leah’s mother conveys security and stability to young dreamers who want to explore different ideas and try on different looks. Highest recommendations for gender identity acceptance and exploration go to Leah’s Mustache Party.”—Midwest Book Review

“Mike shows how much fun can be had with a few simple props and a bit of imagination.”—Winnipeg Free Press

“. . . [T]his simple story, with its quirky subject, captures the refreshing vitality of children . . .”—CM Magazine

“I love her mom’s support of Leah’s fascination with mustaches. It would have been easy for her mom to say no, that Halloween was over, but she willingly lets her daughter indulge in her love of the mustache.”—EverythingMom.com

“. . . [A] fun little book about a girl, who likes having fun.”—The Reading Castle

From the Publisher

2016-08-02
A little girl’s pirate costume inspires a love of mustaches, which her mother happily indulges.Leah dresses up like a pirate for Halloween but thinks her costume is missing a certain something until her mother draws a mustache on her face. She experiences a bit of a letdown the next day but then decides “that it did not need to be Halloween to have fun and dress up,” and her mother obliges when asked to draw another mustache on her face. No one objects to her gender-bending dress-up play, though some kids briefly take pause when she invites them to the titular “mustache party” for her birthday. When asked why she chose this theme (instead of a princess or a fairy party), Leah simply responds, “Because I think mustaches are cool!” Self-assured and exuberant, Leah enjoys a very happy birthday with friends and family. Although the text specifies neither cultural context nor setting, the author is Inuit, and her photo alongside her red-haired daughter Leah’s suggest that illustrator Chua based her illustrations of the fictional Leah and her mom on them. Illustrated clues in the setting, including snowy scenes on Halloween, mukluks stored near gloves and a jacket in a friend’s house, and small buildings close together and linked by power lines, evoke the author’s First Nations home of Iqaluit, Nunavut. Quirky, playful, affirming fun! (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Review