Nana Akua goes to School by Tricia Elam Walker illustrated by April Harrison

When you enter my creative world, I want you to FEEL something . A tug at the old heart strings. Perhaps a distant memory you stored away. April Harrison (illustrator)

It is Grandparents Day. This means you invite your grandparent to talk to your class. The idea is that each older person will share with the class "what makes them special."

Zura is worried. Her Grandmother - Nana Akua is her most favourite person in the world but she has seen the way other people react to the markings on Nana Akua's face.

"Nana Akua looks different. When she was younger, her parents followed an old African tradition. They put marks on her face to show which tribal family she belongs to, and to represent beauty and confidence. These marks will never go away."

Nana Akua is so wise. She suggests they take a special quilt to show the class. They will use this to explain the Adinkra symbols used by the Akan people of Ghana. You can see all of these marks on the end papers of this book. The way Nana Akua explains the markings and then finds a way to share this experience with the young children is ingenious and perfect. 

This book made me cry. I am someone who cries over many things - movies, television commercials, children singing in an assembly and novels but I cannot think of a time a picture book has made me cry. I don't think this is a bad thing - I think it is a testament to the power of this writing and the poignancy of this beautiful story. I didn't cry because I was sad I cried because this story moved me deeply. 

Harrison’s mixed-media collages use texture, line, and both neutral and bright colors to create memorable characters and moments that invite readers to linger over each spread. Here is a story that is both highly specific in the culture represented and universal in its expressions of emotion and heritage. Horn Book

A wonderful springboard for cross-cultural understanding conveyed through deeply symbolic art. Kirkus Star review

IBBY has six important goals. Here are two of them which relate to this book:

• to promote international understanding through children's books
• to give children everywhere the opportunity to have access to books with high literary and artistic standards

I am sad to see this book is very expensive here in Australia which may mean it is not able to be purchased for many school libraries but if you can spare the money I would love to see this book added to your Primary school collection. In this video Tricia and April talk about their book and and this video you can see the whole book.

Here are some other books by Tricia Elam Walker (Dream Street is due for publication in September and Ekua Holmes is her cousin); and What is Given from the heart illustrated by April Harrison.