Deep in the Sahara

Gr 2–4—"In a pale pink house the shape of a tall cake,/you watch Mama's malafa/flutter as she prays./More than all the stars in a desert sky,/you want a malafa so you can be beautiful too." Mama cautions Lalla that a malafa is for more than beauty. The pattern continues as Lalla envies her sister's sense of mystery, the market ladies' femininity, and her grandmother's air of ancient tradition until she gets a malafa of her own, "as blue as the ink in the Koran" so she can take her place beside her mother for the evening prayer. Cunnane has a strong connection to Africa, having lived in both Kenya and Mauritania, the setting of this lovely original story. Like For You Are a Kenyan Child (S & S, 2006), this book incorporates authentic cultural details in both the poetic text and the evocative illustrations. Local Hassaniya words, for example, appear naturally in the text, and are helpfully defined in a glossary. Cut-paper collage illustrations feature boys in turbans, men hurrying to prayers, and women dressed in brightly colored swaths of cloth, enlivening the browns, greens, and adobe brick of the desert background. An author's note acknowledges that she'd believed the wearing of the veil was repressive to women until she understood it was a "relaxed and colorful expression of…faith and culture." Perhaps this upbeat picture book about a mother welcoming her daughter into their community of faith will engender a more positive attitude toward women who choose traditional dress in the modern world.—Toby Rajput, National Louis University, Skokie, IL