Mariama: Different But Just the Same

PreS-Gr 2—Vibrant orange endpapers open with a stylized bird ascending, beginning the journey that is the subject of this colorful picture book. Mariama's family is moving from an unspecified country in West Africa to an unspecified country in the Western world. There she encounters children speaking "a very strange language," who are "nearly as white as the African moon." The simplified text details differences such as meals eaten with knives and forks, accompanied by salt shakers and toothpicks. The deliberately distorted illustrations add information as well as visual interest. As in the spread depicting food, readers see hands dipping into communal food bowls which are labeled, in cursive, "domoda: my favorite food." Unfortunately, not all African terms are explained in the short afterword. And there is nothing subtle about the message: "The most amazing thing for Mariama was discovering that the only difference…was the color of their skin; and that although they had different customs, they were just the same in every other way."