4 Books Published by Tradewind Books on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

In this beautifully illustrated picture book written by Commonwealth Prize winning author Olive Senior and illustrated by the much acclaimed artist of Anna Carries Water a little girl learns to love her difficult-to-manage curly hair.

Liliane Leila Juma was sixteen years old when her family home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was destroyed by rebel soldiers. She gives an account of her life before and after her family was torn apart. Maison Rouge is a story of war and unspeakable loss. It is also the story of survival. Eventually, through the United Nations refugee program, Leila and her family were finally able to relocate to Canada.

Zanele is skipping school and secretly plotting against the apartheid government. The police can’t know. Her mother and sister can’t know.Her best friend Thabo, schoolboy turned gang member, can tell she’s up to something. But he has troubles of his own—a deal gone wrong and some powerful enemies.Across the bridge, in the wealthy white suburbs, Jack plans to spend his last days in Johannesburg burning miles on his beat-up Mustang—until he meets a girl with an unforgettable face from the simmering black township—Soweto.Working in her father’s shop, Meena finds a packet of banned pamphlets. They lead to a mysterious black girl with a secret, a dangerous gangster with an expensive taste in clothes, and an engaging white boy who drives a battered red car.A series of chance meetings changes everything.A chain of events is set in motion—a failed plot, a murdered teacher, and a secret movement of students that has spread across the township. And the students will rise.

Anna fetches water from the spring every day, but she can’t carry it on her head like her older brothers and sisters can. In this charming and poetic family story set in Jamaica, Commonwealth Prize-winning author Olive Senior shows young readers the power of determination, as Anna achieves her goal and overcomes her fear.

• Winner of the Isabel Sissons Canadian Children’s Story Award
• Shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize 2014 (Young Reader’s Literature)
• Nominated for the 2014 Rainforest of Reading Award
• Listed as “One of the Best Picture Books of 2014” - Kirkus Review
• “100 Magnificent Children’s Books 2014" ( Picture book ages 2-6), Schools Library Journal
• On New York Public Library’s “100 Titles for Reading and Sharing"

Set in the Caribbean, this irresistibly rhythmic and poetic tale evokes the power of sheer will and the joy of mastery, as Anna overcomes her fear.