Esi the Brave (Who Was Not Afraid of Anything)

A girl must be brave when she loses her parents at a festival in this dazzling, triumphant picture book by debut author Bernard Mensah and Coretta Scott King illustrator honor recipient Raissa Figueroa (We Wait for the Sun).

Esi the Brave (Who Was Not Afraid of Anything) "loved monsters and ghosts and things that went bump in the night." When Mummy warned Esi that the Kakamotobi Festival would have loud music, scary monster faces, and a big crowd, Esi replied, "I am NOT afraid." On their drive to the festival, Esi heard music and saw rainbows that "SWISHED and SASHAYED, SWIRLING in the sunlight." But those weren't rainbows at all--they were monsters "ten times scarier than the monsters in her books!" Esi closed her eyes in the backseat but heard the doors open and close anyway: "The monsters had Mummy and Daddy, and she was going to get them back!" Luckily for Esi, the scary-looking monsters are merely merrymakers in creative masks.

An author's note explains that the Kakamotobi Festival is celebrated in Ghana "and LOTS of people come to dress up, dance... and wear different kinds of masks." Mensah's text zigs and zags across the pages, increasing and decreasing in size along with the action. Figueroa's watercolor and digital illustrations move with the text, winding across double-page spreads, giving the art a sense of tumbling movement. The monsters are wildly inventive, and Figueroa's palette is clearly inspired by Mensah's description of the "very colorful clothes" worn to the festival. This cinematic picture book about conquering fear is sure to be a favorite read aloud. --Hadeal Salamah, blogger, librarian, freelance reviewer

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