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A review by megatsunami
An African Princess by Anne Wilson, Lyra Edmonds
3.0
My daughter loves this book about a biracial girl whose mom tells her she is an "African princess" and they go to the Caribbean to visit a relative who tells her about her ancestors. I appreciated that it dealt with some big topics and wasn't too heavy, and I liked the focus on ancestors. The "princess" thing was a big win for my child (yeah, don't get me started on the princesses... at least this is a better princess model than Disney!).
At the same time, it felt like a lot of things were too vague. For example, it is not clear if other kids tease her because she is biracial or because she is trying to have pride in being of African descent. Also, I wanted to know exactly where she goes to visit Taunte May. When I first read the book I couldn't tell if she was going to the Caribbean or to Africa (the picture where she points to the map is a little ambiguous, as one hand points to the Caribbean and one to Africa... and do they have savannahs in the Caribbean??). I felt this was confusing for my young child as I couldn't explain to her exactly where they were going.
Overall, I felt the book was sweet but the takeaway message was a little unclear.
At the same time, it felt like a lot of things were too vague. For example, it is not clear if other kids tease her because she is biracial or because she is trying to have pride in being of African descent. Also, I wanted to know exactly where she goes to visit Taunte May. When I first read the book I couldn't tell if she was going to the Caribbean or to Africa (the picture where she points to the map is a little ambiguous, as one hand points to the Caribbean and one to Africa... and do they have savannahs in the Caribbean??). I felt this was confusing for my young child as I couldn't explain to her exactly where they were going.
Overall, I felt the book was sweet but the takeaway message was a little unclear.