Sandwiched between endpapers of yellow-lined paper showing the upper- and lowercase cursive alphabet, this quiet story shouts the pricelessness of literacy.In an unnamed rural country, three brown-skinned children dance in the streets because the war has ended and they can finally return to school. No one feels more excited than Ayobami, the young protagonist wearing a checkered blue-and-white dress and with cornrowed, beaded hair. On her way to school, clever Ayobami negotiates her way out of becoming breakfast for a hippo, a crocodile, a leopard, a snake, a spider, and a mosquito by promising each she'll give them their names on paper when she returns from school. She delivers on her promise, but, having given away all evidence of her newly acquired literacy, she has nothing to show her disappointed father at home—but the wind's magic reveals Ayobami's accomplishments. The book's surreal illustration style varies widely throughout, keeping readers engaged with shifting colors, patterns, moods, and textures. Paced differently from most American picture books, this one also has hefty, durable "stone paper" pages that are "waterproof and tear resistant" and "produced without water…trees and…bleach," making the book a green choice. Letters appear in unlikely places throughout this story—among the leopard's spots; in the spider's web—emphasizing that reading can always help expand our understanding.A marvelous tale of one girl's passion for reading, writing, and learning. (Picture book. 4-8)

In a postwar place where seedlings are beginning to sprout from bullet casings, Ayobami and the other children are excited about returning to school. Instead of following the river to school, as her father advised, Ayobami detours through the jungle, where she encounters many dangerous animals; but she negotiates for her safety by promising to return with their names written on a piece of paper. Crocodile, snake, leopard, mosquito, and spider are intrigued by this prospect and let her continue. At school Ayobami learns "the music that comes from making words," enabling her to fulfill her promises. A few additional complications are happily resolved by the power of her burgeoning literacy. With the feel of an Aesop's fable, this story is both empowering and reflective of the joy school can bring to children whose lives have been disrupted by war. Beautiful illustrations in graphite, watercolor, and colored pencil lend an ethereal, magical quality to this unnamed place, where dangerous creatures have endearing faces, and letters of the alphabet flutter around Ayobami like protective stardust.

Sandwiched between endpapers of yellow-lined paper showing the upper- and lowercase cursive alphabet, this quiet story shouts the pricelessness of literacy.In an unnamed rural country, three brown-skinned children dance in the streets because the war has ended and they can finally return to school. No one feels more excited than Ayobami, the young protagonist wearing a checkered blue-and-white dress and with cornrowed, beaded hair. On her way to school, clever Ayobami negotiates her way out of becoming breakfast for a hippo, a crocodile, a leopard, a snake, a spider, and a mosquito by promising each she'll give them their names on paper when she returns from school. She delivers on her promise, but, having given away all evidence of her newly acquired literacy, she has nothing to show her disappointed father at home—but the wind's magic reveals Ayobami's accomplishments. The book's surreal illustration style varies widely throughout, keeping readers engaged with shifting colors, patterns, moods, and textures. Paced differently from most American picture books, this one also has hefty, durable "stone paper" pages that are "waterproof and tear resistant" and "produced without water…trees and…bleach," making the book a green choice. Letters appear in unlikely places throughout this story—among the leopard's spots; in the spider's web—emphasizing that reading can always help expand our understanding.A marvelous tale of one girl's passion for reading, writing, and learning. (Picture book. 4-8)