From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2–Readers can almost hear the happy sound of Mama's bangle bracelets jingling as she pumps her fist with joy when she finds out that she has secured a new job–and with it, a new place to live. However, young Jamela isn't happy at the prospect of leaving all of the things she loves best: her squeaky front gate, her friends, and the evening star that she can see from her bed. Moving-day mishaps abound, and when a grumpy Jamela takes refuge in a packing container, she precipitates an upset that involves visits to numerous neighbors, affording youngsters a full view of her winsome world. A lovely generosity of spirit on the part of the adults in her life allows Jamela to redeem herself, regain her dignity, and settle in to "her new room in her new home–under the same old sky." A glossary of the South African words that so effectively flavor this treatment of a familiar theme is appended. Daly's warm, easy watercolors are full of motion, and convey both the unique sun-seared heat of the South African setting and the universality of common human experience. The endpapers are alive with Jamela's crayon drawings of her new house. With his gift for respecting children and the child in each of us, Daly offers a reassuring reminder that the love of family and the warmth of friendship (and even stars) move right along with us, no matter where we go.
–Kathy Krasniewicz, Perrot Library, Old Greenwich, CT Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* Gr. K-2. In this tender, affectionate follow-up to
What's Cooking, Jamela? (2001) and
Jamela's Dress (1999), the first double-page spread reveals a jubilant scene: Mama kicks up her heels while waving a letter notifying of "a job and a new place to stay." But Jamela slouches at the kitchen table, exuding worry instead of excitement. She "love[s] their old house," especially the "bedroom window and the world she saw out of it." The fact that the "world" outside is a South African township, and that Mama's news represents economic progress, matters as little to Jamela as it will to most American children. Childhood issues rather than political ones drive Daly's storytelling, and his focus remains squarely on the scary prospect of bidding farewell to the familiar and comfortable. It's a funny packing mix-up that lightens Jamela's mood--along with the excitement of exploring the new house, which brims with cozy possibilities. The closing scene of Mama and Grandma Gogo tucking Jamela into her new bed, their contented profiles framing an expansive view through the window, is both reassuring for little ones anticipating their own changes of scene and hopeful for those with knowledge of the underlying history: the world of nonwhite South Africans is slowly getting bigger.
Jennifer MattsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
