Kamau and Zuzu Find a Way: A Picture Book
by Aracelis Girmay (Author) Diana Ejaita (Illustrator)
Kamau & ZuZu Find a Way is a stirring story of African diaspora, resourcefulness, and intergenerational love by National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and renowned poet Aracelis Girmay, and acclaimed illustrator Diana Ejaita.
One day, young Kamau and his grandmother ZuZu wake up to find themselves on the moon. Kamau doesn't remember Back Home, but Grandma ZuZu does, and she misses it terribly. Together, through cloth scraps and dance, letters and song, Kamau and ZuZu find a way to make a new life for themselves in this strange land: a new life which is not only rooted in the stories, memories, and traditions that ZuZu always carries with her, but which also lovingly reaches out across the vast expanse of space to connect and communicate with the family from which they've been separated.
Acclaimed poet Aracelis Girmay and illustrator Diana Ejaita together weave a powerful story inspired by the African diaspora, in which--despite the shock of being uprooted into this alien world, without being given any choice or explanation, and the sorrow that comes from the unfathomable distance separating them from their beloved community--Kamau and ZuZu find a way to live, as people do.
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Publishers Weekly
A grandchild, Kamau, and grandmother, ZuZu, find themselves suddenly on the moon with no means of returning home in this mysterious intergenerational tale from Girmay (What Do You Know?) and Ejaita (A Day in the Sun). While Kamau doesn't miss a place he can't remember, ZuZu does, and she begins planting in the moon's crust in order to create a new home from what she has. A kernel of corn and a clothespin, a photograph of her mother, and a square of cloth turn into flora and fauna, a starry quilt, and "a wide and silent kite." As Kamau grows older, ZuZu's tears seed a well for drinking water, and the duo's family continues to search frantically for them. The relations eventually find a way to communicate, but it's still difficult for Kamau to envision where he's from, and ZuZu does the work of both offering their previous home's history and marveling at Kamau's moon life. Saturated hues and printmaking textures create shape-based images of both realms in this diasporic look at honoring legacy while finding "a way to live, as people do." Kamau and ZuZu's skin reflects some pages' black background; other characters are portrayed with various fantastical skin tones. Ages 6-9. (May)
Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
Aracelis Girmay is a poet, mother, teacher, and editor. She is the author of three books of poems and is the editor of How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton. For her poetry, she was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Hurston/Wright Award, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. She is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund.
Diana Ejaita (Olu and Greta, A Day in the Sun) works as an illustrator and textile designer in Berlin. What sets her illustrations apart is a combination of dramatically contrasting areas of black and white with soft patterns and textures that create images that betray the strength of femininity. Born in Cremona, with Nigerian origins, her aesthetic pays homage to her lineage.
JUV011010 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
JUV039250 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emigration & Immigration
