Yaya and the Sea

by Karen Good Marable, Tonya Engel (Illustrator)

Overview

A family goes on a trip from the city to the sea in search of renewal in this “lively and lovely...beautiful” (Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award–winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming) picture book that’s an ode to sisterhood, nature, and being present.

On the first day of spring, when the city is quiet and still, little Yaya takes the A train down to New York City’s southern shores with her mama and aunties to greet Mama Ocean and celebrate the arrival of a new season through a ritual of letting go of the past and embracing the new.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534462014
Publisher:	Denene Millner Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	03/12/2024
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	369,468
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Karen Good Marable is a writer raised in Prairie View, Texas. Her essays, music journalism, and stories have appeared in several books and publications including The New Yorker, Oxford American, The Bitter Southerner,Seventeen, and Essence. After a lifetime of living in Brooklyn, she and her family now reside in Atlanta.

Tonya Engel is a self-taught painter and children’s book illustrator whose work can be found in many picture books, among them Our Lady of Guadalupe, Because Claudette, Impossible Moon, and the jacket art for Hurricane Child. Her work is inspired by Southern folk artists. Early in her career, she explored abstract painting but soon began to concentrate on figurative form mixed with emotion and expressionistic narrative. Engel lives in Houston, Texas.

Editorial Reviews

03/11/2024

A Black mother and narrating child head to the sea on the first day of spring in this stirring New York City–set work from debut author Good Marable and Engel. As the two get ready, Mommy urges the child to “pick the shiniest dimes” for making wishes. Stepping onto the A train at 125th Street, the two meet up with a group of Mommy’s friends, who laugh and chat until the group disembarks at the water—and pays homage to Mama Ocean in a seasonal ritual that involves letting go of the past and embracing the future. In a palette of lively mixed blues, oranges, and yellows, acrylic and oil spreads dreamily portray the early morning city atmosphere, the train ride, and gifts the individuals offer to Mama Ocean (“a jar of molasses, sticky and sweet.... a bouquet of flowers.... slices of watermelon.... seven shiny dimes”). It’s a commanding portrait of a child paying witness to modeled tradition, capped off by an author’s note that contextualizes the event. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

A lively and lovely tribute to spring, to ritual, and to letting the sea know how much she is loved. I've not seen this story told before and am so happy it's out in the world! Beautiful.

Jacqueline Woodson

★ 2024-01-05
A little girl learns how the important women in her life honor the sea.

Awakening from dreams of being a mermaid, Yaya prepares for a trip through New York City to the sea on the first day of spring. Yaya and her mother bundle up, get breakfast quickly at the bodega, and board the subway. Mama’s close friends Auntie Stefanie, Auntie Renee, and Auntie Dream greet mother and daughter warmly, and they ride the train to the end of the line. They all get quiet as they approach the beach and walk toward the water with reverence and respect. Each woman has brought gifts for Mama Ocean, as they call her: flowers, watermelon slices, shiny dimes, patterned fabrics, a ring, molasses. Yaya waits on the blanket, as Mama has instructed her, and watches while the four women walk into the water to thank the ocean. Engel’s deeply saturated acrylic images convey a sense of tranquility as the women bond, share an intimate friendship, and bring Yaya into their tradition of leaving markers of the past behind to start afresh with the coming of spring. Engel also shows the women’s individuality through their expressions, their hairstyles, their attires, and the nature of the gifts they bring. Yaya, her mother, and her aunties present Black.

A beautiful, uniquely told story of gratitude and togetherness. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews