The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Diouf, Sylviane A.

Bintou's Braids

40 pp. | Chronicle | October, 2001 | Trade ISBN 0-8118-2514-0 $$14.95

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Shane W. Evans. Bintou wants braids like the older women in her West African village, but she sometimes dreams that her cornrowed hair would make a nice place for birds to nest. Over the course of the book, which takes place during her brother's baptism, Bintou describes in rhythmic, childlike sentences both the baptism ceremony and West African attitudes toward hair. Diouf's simple yet incisive language is enhanced by Evans's dramatic folk-style art.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2002