SEVEN CANDLES FOR KWANZAA
by Andrea Davis Pinkney & illustrated by Brian Pinkney
An introduction to the history, symbols, and customary celebration of this African-American holiday. Scratchboard illustrations stress the importance of Kwanzaa as a family event with warmly colored, harmoniously composed domestic scenes. Cultural cross-connections are drawn in the first two pictures (an American family exchanges gifts, including a length of kente cloth; then identically posed figures are transposed to a traditional African village) and enhanced by borders in African motifs. The author briefly discusses the Seven Principles, suggesting activities for Kwanzaa and through the year. Similar in information to Chocolate's Kwanzaa (1990) and My First Kwanzaa Book (1992), but the visual riches and less didactic tone here are superior. Useful four-item reading list. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 7-9)