As Nana Akua Goes to School begins, Zura's teacher tells the kids about the following Monday's Grandparents' Day celebration: "Each of you will bring your grandparents to school so they can share what makes them special." Lucky for readers and for Zura, her grandmother has a fascinating cultural tradition that, in her first book for kids, Tricia Elam Walker presents with extraordinary grace and nimbleness.
Nana Akua is plenty special: she grew up in West Africa and gives Zura fantastic hugs. But Nana Akua is also special in a way that makes Zura nervous. When the old woman was a child in Ghana, her parents permanently marked her face so that she would match her tribal family. Zura knows that the marks "represent beauty and confidence," but one day at the park she saw a child point to Nana Akua and say, "That lady looks scary."
After Zura invites Nana Akua to the celebration, she admits her concern: "What if someone at school laughs at you or acts mean?" Nana Akua has an idea. She suggests that on Monday they bring along the quilt that she made for Zura's bed, which features traditional Ghanaian symbols--"Even though they are not exactly the same as the marks on my face, they can help explain them."
The text of Nana Akua Goes to School has a treacly moment or two, but this is offset by the clear-sighted storytelling. Walker anticipates young readers' questions with Mr. Rogers-like perceptiveness. Nana Akua tells the class, "Most Ghanaian parents don't celebrate in this way anymore, but it was once an important tradition." She offers a contextualizing insight: "In this country I often notice people who put tattoos on their body that have special meanings." Then Nana Akua produces some makeup so that she can give the kids temporary face marks inspired by the symbols on Zura's quilt.
The story's quilt motif carries over into April Harrison's (What Is Given from the Heart) mixed-media collages. Leaning heavily on chartreuse, lavender and robin's-egg blue, she cobbles together elements that have their own distinct patterns and textures, giving each page a patchwork look. All of Harrison's illustrations are dazzlers, but Nana Akua Goes to School's most striking image has to be the close-up of the old woman's kind face, the soft parallel lines on her cheeks prominent. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author
Shelf Talker: In this eye-opening picture book, a girl has mixed feelings about bringing her Ghanaian-born grandmother, whose face bears tribal marks, to school for a Grandparents' Day celebration.