Review by Booklist Review
One morning, Mama ZuZu and her grandson Kamau wake up on the moon, far from their African home. ZuZu struggles to adjust to their new environment, eventually planting mementos from home, which become food, a warm quilt, trees, a kite, birds, and flowers. Her lonely tears become a deep well of drinking water, and when Kamau sings to the plantings, a radio appears, playing the sounds of home: drums, horns, and singing. Meanwhile, back in Africa, their family searches for them, and miraculously, a message from the moon appears. In her contemporary folktale, Girmay (who has African heritage herself) uses succinct, direct language to convey the anguish of relocation and celebrate the resilience necessary to survive in a new land. Striking illustrations from Ejaita (of Italian and Nigerian origins) make use of flat, often textured shapes and human figures that are literally black, with fine white lines defining features. Backgrounds are often black with bright colors used for clothing and other objects. Particularly interesting is her depiction of the moon, which begins as a bleak gray landscape and gradually morphs into a colorful terrain. Reflecting on her life, ZuZu says, "This is not what I would have chosen. . . . But we will have to find a way to live, as people do." Compelling and heartfelt.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A boy and his grandmother learn that home is where you make it. Kamau and Mama ZuZu, both of whom present Black, wake one morning stranded on the moon, unaware of how they got there. With no memories of his village, Kamau is excited for the change of scenery, while homesick ZuZu creates a new life using treasured possessions. Out of the photo of her mother grows "a large quilt of stars to keep them warm," while the river of tears she cries becomes their drinking water. Meanwhile, worried family members Back Home search for them. After a letter from Kamau mysteriously appears in his father's pocket, his family writes back, placing their missives in the nearby sea. Realizing that "none of the roads Back Home lead here," ZuZu resolves to "find a way to live, as people do." Examining the challenges of being forced to leave one's home, this visually gorgeous, nuanced work echoes stories from the African diaspora as well as global areas of conflict. Girmay's folkloric text is simple and straightforward yet deeply moving as she explores the emotions, both good and bad, involved in navigating a life-altering situation. Ejaita's textured, flat illustrations use saturated color to brilliant effect as bright colors pop off the page against a background of deep, dark blues and blacks. A stunning and empathetic look at the struggles of displacement.(Picture book. 5-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
