Friday, June 30, 2023

Indigo Dreaming by Dinah Johnson, illustrated by Anna Cunha - ESSENTIAL

Indigo Dreaming
by Dinah Johnson, illustrated by Anna Cunha
. PICTURE BOOK HarperCollins. 2022. $15. 9780063080201 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

A young African girl, standing on Indigo Beach, wonders if there is someone out there like her. She wonders if she could be her same age, and wonders if she experiences the same things she does. Separated by the ocean, on a distant piece of land, another young African girl wonders if there is anyone out there doing the same things as her. 

Indigo Rising is written from two little girls' points of view. They wonder about different settings, names of food, and what they do in their free time. I enjoyed reading this book because of the characters. The questions that they were wondering about each other were ideas that elementary-age kids could relate to. It showed through writing and illustrations, how different and yet similar these two girls are. Despite different homes and cultures, Indigo Rising made the point that kids all over the world can be very similar. The note at the end explained the historical significance of the two characters and how this was a story of the Black diaspora. The first character is based off descendants of the enslaved people taken from Sierra Leone. These Africans in America are called the Gullahs.

A. Criswell, English Language Arts

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