Malaika, Carnival Queen

Written by Nadia L. Hohn

Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-850-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

May 2023

 

Malaika, whom Nadia L. Hohn introduced us to in Malaika's Costume (and revisited with Malaika's Winter Carnival and Malaika's Surprise), is always joyous with colour and exuberance. But it's family that brings her the most happiness. In Malaika, Carnival Queen, family is no less important but there is an element of grief that is wrapped in that familial warmth.

From Malaika, Carnival Queen by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Malaika lives with her Mummy, her new father Papa Fred, her Grandma, her new sister Adèle and new baby brother. But she's dreaming of a man carrying a basket of fruit, handing her a mango. Malaika believes it a dream about her father and her mother confirms it. Grandma gives Malaika a photo of her daddy working on a fruit farm with a message "To Malaika, my likkle one." He'd come to Canada before them to work on a farm, but he'd become ill and passed away without them.

From Malaika, Carnival Queen by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

They decide it's important for Malaika to learn more about her father, so they take a trip to the farm where he'd worked, meeting some men who'd worked with him. They speak of his love for his daughter and his dream to make a carnival like back home. Malaika is invited to be the Carnival Queen for their upcoming harvest festival to which she agrees.

Malaika is ready with her carnival peacock dress, but she has a plan to make the parade extra special and ensure that "home" is at the heart of the event.

 

Malaika, Carnival Queen is an involved story but at its heart it's about family and home. Malaika has a family, but she has lost her birth father and needed to know more about him. With him showing up in her dreams, it was time to learn more. Nadia L. Hohn gives us the Malaika whom we've grown to love through her earlier books but in Malaika, Carnival Queen we are introduced to another side of her, that which has experienced loss. With Malaika's father as a migrant worker, Nadia L. Hohn opens the discussion with children about families who are separated through immigration, particularly because of farm work. Though the story of migrant farm workers is one of hardships, that's not the story that Malaika, as the daughter of one, needed to hear. She needed to connect with her father through his coworkers and through a carnival, and Nadia L. Hohn does that for the little girl. 

From Malaika, Carnival Queen by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

That connection of family and place comes through Malaika's creation of a carnival flag of home. It's a banner of colour and heart and memory, and all those are depicted in Irene Luxbacher's illustrations. The artwork, created in gouache, soft pastels and found papers, gives the story both a softness of purpose and a quilting of connection. Those media are perfect for a story of loss and finding connection but also making connection. Irene Luxbacher, who has illustrated all four of the Malaika books, gives the colour and the boldness of a child with high spirits, but she also gives us tenderness for the loss felt by Malaika and others as well as a collage-feel that comes from kinship.

As Malaika grows older, Nadia L. Hohn shows us more sides to the little girl and her family, but she always keeps her as one with sensitivity. She may be a carnival queen but she's also a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, and a friend, all which make her truly impressive and inclusive.

• • • • • • •

Malaika's Costume (2016)

Malaika's Winter Carnival (2017)

Malaika's Surprise (2021)

Malaika, Carnival Queen (2023)

Malaika's Surprise

Written by Nadia L. Hohn

Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-264-8

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

March 2021

 

Though Malaika is eager to invite a new little girl to play with her and her stepsister Adèle, she's not too sure about another new little one who is going to be born to her mother and Papa Frédéric around the time of Malaika's birthday. But, as the saying goes, the only thing about life is its unpredictability.

From Malaika's Surprise by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

At school, she meets the new little girl, Malayka M., whose sadness is put aside by Malaika's friendship and kindness.

From Malaika's Surprise by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

When the day of Malaika's birthday comes, it's filled with much celebration, but most special is the arrival of her Grandma who brings Malaika's peacock carnival costume (introduced in Malaika's Costume, 2016) from Trinidad. Malaika is excited to wear it to school for her party to which she is bringing doubles (I had to find the recipe for this) and cake but she is  disappointed when she learns that her Mummy, Grandma and Papa Frédéric now will not be able to attend as they rush to the hospital for the birth.

From Malaika's Surprise by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

But, just because things don't go as planned doesn't mean that the day won't be special and full of surprises, both expected and unexpected.

Nadia L. Hohn who has given us three stories of Malaika, first dealing with her separation from her mother who had immigrated to Canada (Malaika's Costume, 2016) and then when she joins her mother and new stepfather and stepsister in Canada (Malaika's Winter Carnival, 2017) before Malaika's Surprise which brings new familial changes for the little girl. Regardless of the tenuous nature of Malaika's circumstances–missing her mother, living with her Grandma, adapting to a new country and new family–Nadia L. Hohn always embeds a permanence of caring family to scaffold Malaika's new realities. Even as the text changes from one rich in the island dialect, spoken so lovingly by her Grandma, to one melding English with the French of Papa Frédéric and Adèle, Malaika has adapted, showing resilience and openness to her new circumstances. Her empathy, so evident with Malayka M., helps her to appreciate that her new baby brother may bring change but it is change she can live with and even rejoice in.

Artist Irene Luxbacher, who has illustrated all three Malaika books, uses a blend of gouache, soft pastels and found papers to create wonderfully exuberant artwork that is as joyous as a Carnival, resplendent in colours and textures of celebration. In Malaika's Surprise, there is much to celebrate: a birthday or two, a new friend, a visit from a cherished grandmother, and a growing family. Like a Carnival setting, you won't know where to look first: at the costumes, the children's artwork, the expressive faces, the clothing, or the rooms' decors. It all invites the reader in to observe Malaika's life and learn how to be kind and adaptable.

From Malaika's Surprise by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Much of our lives, like Malaika's, involves change and a newness of circumstances. But what  Malaika's Surprise demonstrates is that, though newness and change can be stressful because of the anticipation of the unknown, the reality is often not as bad as expected, especially with the knowledge that others care.

Aunt Pearl

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-153-5

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

August 2019

Six-year-old Marta's mother has decided that her Aunt Pearl should come and live with them rather than living on the street or couch surfing. Not only does Pearl bring her shopping cart loaded with her "worldly goods" but a man in an old van brings more boxes and bags with the same miscellany. While Marta and Dan's mother tries to keep their home tidy and organized as she prefers it to be, Aunt Pearl fills her room, as well as the garage and basement, with her stuff, and the clash of sensibilities begins.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Marta is quite fascinated with Aunt Pearl who is respectful of her new surroundings and family though she still feels the need to be true to herself.  Soon Marta is emulating Aunt Pearl, from her eclectic clothing choices to joining her on her forays to scour the neighbourhood’s garbage for treasures, always asking questions of Pearl and how she lived. Marta loves the drama of Aunt Pearl and always finds opportunities to role-play something she hears or sees associated with Aunt Pearl which unpredictably the older woman thinks strange.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

But things are very different for Aunt Pearl now and over the summer and into the fall, she becomes more and more reserved, “staring into the ravine at the bottom of the yard where the trees grew tangled and green” and, with her mental health affected, she leaves.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Aunt Pearl is a tough story about family and love and appreciation and authenticity.  Author Monica Kulling makes it clear that Marta’s mother wants to do what’s best for her aunt but it might not actually be what’s right for Pearl. Many would think it generous and appropriate to give Pearl shelter in the family home but it’s obviously not what’s best in the long run for Pearl. Whatever the reason for Aunt Pearl choosing to return to the streets, and there are those who do, she was still able to make a connection with Marta, to learn that she had a place she could go, and that there were still choices within her control.

Monica Kulling's words never criticize either Aunt Pearl or Marta and Dan's mother for their living choices. She is an observer not a judge, seeing the circumstances as a clash of two worlds in which all try to accept their differences with open hearts. Irene Luxbacher's rich collage illustrations, a mixture of pencil, watercolour and acrylics finished with found papers and gouache, push that same idea. While Irene Luxbacher makes Aunt Pearl a sympathetic character with her soft eyes and quiet smile, Pearl's clothes are usually loud and her presence larger than life. In the words and the art, Aunt Pearl is both subtle and bold, trying to fit her world into someone else's and ultimately that just doesn't work.

Aunt Pearl is a bittersweet story about homelessness and the power of family to love and accept and let go. It teaches compassion and urges us all to better understand what it means to be homeless and to love those who are.

From Aunt Pearl by Monica Kulling, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

I Am Canada: A Celebration

Written by Heather Patterson

Illustrated by Jeremy Tankard, Ruth Ohi, 
Barbara Reid, Jon Klassen, 
Marie-Louise Gay, Danielle Daniel, 

Ashley Spires, Geneviève Côté, 

Cale Atkinson, Doretta Groenendyk,
Qin Leng, Eva Campbell and
Irene Luxbacher

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-6304-0

Ages 3+

32 pp.

May 2017

With Canada celebrating 150 years since Confederation in 1867, there will be a plethora of books published solely for the purpose of memorializing that historic milestone for our relatively new country.  Though there has and will be sufficient backlash for praising the birth of a nation amidst the traditional habitation of this land by its Indigenous Peoples, I like to think that we can simply celebrate our land as it is, warts and all, as a glorious amalgamation of peoples and cultures.  This picture book, based on the poem by Heather Patterson and illustrated by thirteen outstanding illustrators, does just that.

The poem, written by Heather Patterson in 1996 and originally put to photographic interpretation (Scholastic Canada, 2006) reads as follows (I've separated lines as they appear in this edition; any errors are solely mine):

I am Canada.

I run, I swim,

I skate, I dance.

I skim over snow

on my toboggan.

I have space.

I read, I learn,

I draw, I dream.

I stay out late and see the

northern lights.

I have time.

I watch, I touch, I listen.

I make up my mind.

I decide to build a castle.

I am free.

I am Canada.

I am cool in summer

and cozy in winter.

I am springing in the spring

and floppy in the fall.

I eat pizza and pierogis

and peppers.

I eat meatballs and muffins

and mangos.

I am quiet,

I am curious,

I am friendly,

I am funny.

I explain, I explore, I enjoy,

I share, I sing, I celebrate.

I am Canada.

Each artist prepared a double-spread illustration to correspond with 1-4 lines of the poem and it's a delightful interpretation and showcase of Canada and its artistry by way of its creators, its landscape and its people.

Portion of illustration by Jeremy Tankard

in I Am Canada: A Celebration

by Heather Patterson

Jeremy Tankard, author-illustrator of Grumpy Bird and Hungry Bird, begins with a drawing of children hiking outdoors heading towards a blazing maple tree.  Ruth Ohi, author of recently reviewed Fox and Squirrel The Best Christmas Ever, brings a lightness of touch in style and content with everyone–families, pets, wildlife–enjoying the outdoors.  Plasticine artist Barbara Reid (Sing a Song of Bedtime) lends her craftsmanship to a winter scene of tobogganing, reminiscent of her award-winning Perfect Snow. Transplanted Canadian Jon Klassen (This is My Hat) focuses on his own outdoor scene of a lone house among bare winter trees amidst the wide open spaces of pristine snow, touched by a single child.  

Creator of Stella and Sam and Princess Pistachio, Marie-Louise Gay plays on the imaginative play that comes from books and learning with daydreaming children envisioning clouds of animals and skies of seas.  Danielle Daniel who burst onto the youngCanLit scene with her award-winning Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox honours our northern regions with a display of brilliant northern lights enjoyed by humans and wildlife alike.  Ashley Spires, author of Binky the Space Cat and The Thing Lou Couldn't Do, moves us to the warmth of a summer on B.C.'s shores for rest and recreation on the sand and in the water.

Simplest of all illustrations is award-winning artist Geneviève Côté's depiction of freedom, a child riding a blue loon embellished with a northern, a forested and an aquatic environments.  Her art, seen in her Mr. King and Piggy and Bunny series, has everything about Canada in the subtlest of depictions.

Illustration by Cale Atkinson 

in I Am Canada: A Celebration 

by Heather Patterson

But there's still more.  Cale Atkinson, illustrator of Vikki VanSickle's If I Had a Gryphon, lends his artwork to an exposé of Canada's four seasons and Doretta Groenendyk (A Harbour Seal in Halifax) provides a multicultural smorgasbord for a diversity of peoples and other animals.  (Have fun picking out all the foods displayed. I counted at least 17!) Perfect for the quiet stylings of prolific illustrator Qin Leng (A Family is a Family is a Family) is a spread about a walk in the woods of Mount Royal in the fall.  Eva Campbell, who illustrated Eric Walters' The Matatu, celebrates exploration and fireworks in her illustration.

Illustration by Qin Leng 

in I Am Canada: A Celebration 

by Heather Patterson

The culminating illustration is from Irene Luxbacher (Mr. Frank) and is perfection as the finale, with a blending of landscapes, indoor and out, and the anticipation of travel across this country.

Portion of illustration by Irene Luxbacher 

in I Am Canada: A Celebration 

by Heather Patterson

While Heather Patterson's words set the tone, it's the artwork of these Canadian illustrators that gives them substance and context.  I Am Canada is truly a celebration of all that is right in our country: the land and its people and the lifeblood they create.

************************************

A French-language version, Le Canada, C'est Moi, uses Geneviève Côté's illustration for its cover. 

Mittens to Share

by Emil Sher

Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

North Winds Press/Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-4296-0

32 pp.

Ages 3-8

October 2016

In this study of contrasts (up/down, here/there, cold/warmth), a child enjoying a winter wonderland with a parent loses her blue mitten while sledding, making snow angels, watching a chickadee and creating a snowman.

From Mittens to Share 

by Emil Sher, 

illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Returning to the warmth of their home, the girl searches through the myriad of mittens–doesn't everyone have a mitten box in Canada?–and, with new mittens upon her hands, delves back outdoors to locate that obviously-holed and unravelling mitten and ultimately share it with the world outside.

From Mittens to Share 

by Emil Sher, 

illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Emil Sher's story is a simple one for the winter season and one that even the youngest children will be able to read fluently quickly. (The word count is less than 70 words, many repeated.) Enjoying the wonders of winter and the outdoors is a pleasure for most Canadians, and one that Emil Sher relates through both the child’s and parent's actions.  But it's Irene Luxbacher's art, a blend of dry-rubbed acrylic paint with collage work, that elevates the story to something extraordinary.  The snow is cold and wet, the landscape is magical, the mittens diverse and outrageously clever, and the story comes to life.  As Canadians, we know the story of lost mittens far too well (even as adults) and the shared experience of a lost and found mitten in a setting so familiar creates an tale evocative of winter memories of long ago and today.  With our own wet snow upon the ground here in southern Ontario, I hope that everyone has Mittens to Share with those they love and those who need them.

From Mittens to Share 

by Emil Sher, 

illus. by Irene Luxbacher

*************************

If a French-language edition is more to your liking, Une Mitaine Pour Deux has been released at the same time as Mittens to Share.

Malaika's Costume

by Nadia L. Hohn

Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-754-2

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

March 2016

Bring in the sunshine of the islands and the colours of Carnival and Trinidad and Tobago with Malaika's Costume which launches tomorrow in Toronto.

Young Malaika is anticipating her first Carnival without her mother who has moved to Canada to make a better life for Malaika and Grandma.  She is hopeful that her mother will be sending money for a costume, as promised.  But a letter arrives that has Grandma pulling out a “tired costume. It smell funny and it dusty.  The costume squeeze my belly and some of the sequins fall off.  I feel hot and itchy.”  Distraught, Malaika runs through the familiar streets of her community until a kaiso song reminds her of her grandmother and that being poor does not mean being without dignity.

With donated scraps of fabric from Ms. Chin the tailor lady and Grandma’s help, an astounding peacock costume of red, blue, jade and purple, with gold and more is created, ultimately bringing the Carnival to her mother in Canada.

Nadia L. Hohn has given Malaika’s Costume a rhythm that evokes the busyness and warmth of a community that nurtures and supports.  Even the young girl’s initial disappointment is tempered with the affection of her Grandma and the realization that she has so many good things in her life.  And the text, rich with dialogue of patois, ensures that the atmosphere was created for the ear as well as the eye.  Irene Luxbacher, whose own Mr. Frank (Groundwood, 2014) introduced the illustrator’s collage artwork, complements that text with brilliant and bold art that bombards the senses.  The colours are lush, the textures surreal and the balance of characters and setting make Malaika’s Costume as much a place to visit as a story to be told.

From Malaika's Costume by Nadia L. Hohn, illus. by Irene Luxbacher

Malaika's Costume: Book launch (Toronto)

Join author

Nadia L. Hohn

and illustrator

Irene Luxbacher

with publisher

Groundwood Books (House of Anansi Press)

for the official launch of their picture book

Malaika's Costume

Written by Nadia L. Hohn

Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

Groundwood Books

9781554987542

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

March 2016

on

Saturday, March 5, 2016 

2 p.m.- 4 p.m. 

at

A Different Booklist 

746 Bathurst Street

Toronto, ON

The book is described as follows:

It’s Carnival time. The first Carnival since Malaika’s mother moved to Canada to find a good job and provide for Malaika and her grandmother. Her mother promised she would send money for a costume, but when the money doesn’t arrive, will Malaika still be able to dance in the parade? 

Disappointed and upset at her grandmother’s hand-me-down costume, Malaika leaves the house, running into Ms. Chin, the tailor, who offers Malaika a bag of scrap fabric. With her grandmother’s help, Malaika creates a patchwork rainbow peacock costume, and dances proudly in the parade.

(Retrieved from House of Anansi website at http://houseofanansi.com/products/malaikas-costume)

In addition to supporting diversity in youngCanLit,

this book launch will be a great opportunity to:

• get a taste of the Caribbean Carnival season

• hear a reading of the book by author Nadia L. Hohn

• meet the illustrator Irene Luxbacher, and

• purchase a copy of the book, and get it signed. 

Mr. Frank

by Irene Luxbacher

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-435-0

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

September 2014

Mr. Frank is a tailor, and one who has served many people through many decades by creating a wide variety of clothes, and Mr. Frank, the book, begins with the excitement of receiving a special "order for an outfit that made all the others seem rather dull."(pg. 6) From Mr. Frank's hand to the forehead as he receives the call, the order seems overwhelming. But the elderly tailor takes his time thinking about the fabrics and the design, the style and the fit, as well as comfort and playfulness.  This man is more than a tailor, he is a creator of dreams, albeit one with needle and thread.

And as Mr. Frank makes his decisions, he takes several trips down memory lane, first recalling his mending of uniforms from more than 60 years ago when he was but a child, to the suits he tailored as a young man, and then the wild outfits of the 1960's and 1970's.  As fashions and Mr. Frank's tailoring change with the decades, so too does Mr. Frank, going a little more grey and a little more perplexed by the trends, but always accommodating, and taking on a variety of orders.  But it is evident that Mr. Frank will be closing up shop after today, after he completes this most special of orders.  It will be his pièce de résistance.

Irene Luxbacher was inspired by her own father's tailoring to write Mr. Frank, and the respect and admiration she extends is evident in the depth of her illustrations.  Though there is an understated melancholy about Mr. Frank, as he wraps up his tailoring career with one last special order, Irene Luxbacher emphasizes the textures and colours of a full life of creating fashions for others.  From the patterned wallpaper and rug and the textured fabrics, to the bold patterns of the mod clothes of the 1960's, the details all tell of a richness of a life well lived.  There are collages of photographs with magazine pictures, drawings and pattern pieces that I suspect once graced the walls of the real Mr. Frank's tailor shop, as I believe do the wall photos in the residence to which he delivers this last outfit.  In a lovely homage to her father and to the relationships between the generations, Irene Luxbacher has created her own masterpiece for the ages, one that she and her readers will look upon fondly for many years too.