Pura Belpré Honor creator Laekan Zea Kemp (Someplace Between Bitter and Candy) presents a candy ode to the particular bond between grandmother and grandchild in A Crown for Corina, her first image e book.
Corina is celebrating her birthday in Abuela’s backyard, the place her grandmother helps her choose significant blooms to include into her flower corona, her very personal crown. Abuela’s backyard is the right place for a celebration, so stuffed with flowers that Corina thinks it seems like “la tierra is throwing una fiesta.”
At Abuela’s urging, Corina begins by selecting flowers that symbolize her household. There’s a cheerful sunflower for Mamá, who loves the colour yellow, a bluebonnet that reminds Corina of her pet rabbit’s fluffy tail, morning glories that pay tribute to Abuelo’s trumpet and extra. Subsequent, Abuela asks Corina so as to add flowers that symbolize who she needs to develop as much as develop into, and Corina picks sunny esperanzas for hope, daisies for power and mistflowers for his or her candy scent that attracts butterflies. As Corina explores Abuela’s backyard, she discovers a language she by no means knew earlier than, “one spoken not in phrases however within the prick of a cactus needle, within the brilliant orange plums of a fowl of paradise, and within the candy scent of a chocolate cosmos.”
Lastly, Abuela locations the corona on Corina’s head and reminds her granddaughter that to put on a flower crown is to “develop into its roots, reaching again by way of time to carry on to the issues that matter.” Corina realizes that she is going to carry the reminiscence of this present day spent along with her Abuela endlessly.
Kemp incorporates Spanish phrases and phrases all through the textual content as she welcomes readers into Corina’s household’s tales. Kemp’s use of sensory imagery is particularly nicely carried out, enabling the reader to expertise not solely the way in which Abuela’s backyard seems but in addition the way it smells, sounds and feels. Kemp’s lyrical prose blends seamlessly with Elise Chavarri’s cheerful, detailed watercolor art work to create a energetic Eden bursting with hummingbirds, honey bees, blossoms and butterflies. Her spreads are crammed with vivid greens and heat, saturated magentas and oranges that mirror Corina’s personal emotions of lightness and pleasure.
Identical to Abuela’s backyard grows with care, Corina feels supported and liked by her household as she grows one other yr older. A Crown for Corina is a transferring portrayal of the connections between members of the family, generations, the earth, the previous and a really brilliant future.
