A Case Study:
Evaluation of the Illustration of Thank You, Omu!
Written and illustrated by Oge Mora
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2018
ISBN-13: 9780316431231
Quality: Oge Mora’s illustrations are mixed media comprised of cut out collages from textures she collected and created then scanned and combined details using china markers. It is a process that created images that are unique to her own and Jacob Lawrence-esque.
Purpose: When brainstorming for her first picture book, Mora explained that she wanted to tell a story that did the reduction and acquired method: something lost and gained. When her own mother visited her in her apartment, they were cooking stew and thus became the story to her picture book.
Mora’s illustrations incorporated symbols such as Mora’s use of a bright red and white floral pattern for the thick, red stew. The floral pattern symbolizes abundance and community. The thick, red stew inevitably fed the neighbors who followed its scent to Omu’s door and once she was ready to have some for herself, she had an empty pot. The story ends with the same people visiting her all at once with gifts of food and goodwill of their own to share with her.
Characters’ Depiction: Each character was also unique to their own and showed diversity in an urban-style setting. The protagonist was fashioned by Mora’s Nigerian grandmother, a woman of generosity and kindness. The city folk was typical people you’d see in an urban setting.
Cultural Accuracy: We don’t know exactly where “corner of First Street and Long Street” is where this story takes place, but what we can assess from the images, it is an urban setting. The city view from above Omu’s apartment are buildings comprised of teal and tan with contrasting yellows for school buses and lights emanating from office windows. It is a pleasing composition. Nothing drab. Mora uses contrasting colors beautifully in her composition.
Are illustrations free of stereotypical symbols? Not at all. The urban landscape is a pleasing composition that is well-balanced. The textures are interesting as well. Mora uses newspaper print and sometimes hand-drawn textures in her shapes to provide contrast. Brown people are depicted also in high-paying professions.
Do the illustrations celebrate the culture portrayed? It celebrates the culture portrayed with pleasing and warm composition for the urban landscape, rich in texture, with a pastel palette sprinkled with vibrant, contrasting colors such as reds, purples, and yellows.
Author-Illustrator’s Background: I enjoy the intellectualizing she took to put her vision into practice and then to fruition both through her visual and story composition. Thank you, Omu started off as a project that Mora created for one of her classes at the Rhode Island School of Design and was picked up by Little Brown editor even before Mora had an agent! Oge Mora is a Nigerian born immigrant who grew up in Ohio. She is an “insider” to the culture being represented in this story.
Overall Quality: What a splendid picture book by Oge Mora. The book celebrates the author’s grandmother and culture. Grandmothers are also universal making this story relatable and revered by many other like cultures who believe in bringing family and community through food.
And it’s not surprising that Mora’s first book won plenty of awards!
Other books:
Saturday
The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned How to Read
References:
Corbett, Sue (2018-12-21). “Fall 2018 Flying Starts: Oge Mora”. (2018).
Thank You, Omu! (First ed). New York. ISBN 9780316431248. OCLC 965781421.
Top 5 Books:
I am so excited to present to you my selection of African American YA novels! These books are aligned to my taste and sensibilities and free from stereotypes that are flooding the black YA market right now. You will see the books I’ve selected are about historical events, some invented worlds, and windows through the past that most would have otherwise would have not known. Most of these books on my list have garnered a lot of awards too. I am such a sucker for historical literary fiction. It is important not to only see oneself represented in books, but to also learn about history and culture, and also see situations that are outside of your realm and norm. The book blurbs are from descriptions on Amazon. Without further adieu, here they are:
“A new pair of shoes, a university degree, a husband—these are the things that a girl dreams of in a Nigerian village. And with a government scholarship right around the corner, everyone can see that these dreams aren’t too far out of reach.
But the girl’s dreams turn to nightmares when her village is attacked by Boko Haram, a terrorist group, in the middle of the night. Kidnapped, she is taken with other girls and women into the forest where she is forced to follow her captors’ radical beliefs and watch as her best friend slowly accepts everything she’s been told.
Still, the girl defends her existence. As impossible as escape may seem, her life—her future—is hers to fight for.” – Amazon description (Links to an external site.)
Why I selected this book: It is packed with the historical background of Boko Haram and the tragedies that happened during that time with the backdrop of a Nigerian middle class educated family that is all of sudden faced with such horrific events in their country. This is about a contemporary historical event that sheds light on what occurred.
“Echo Brown is a wizard from the East Side, where apartments are small and parents suffer addictions to the white rocks. Yet there is magic . . . everywhere. New portals begin to open when Echo transfers to the rich school on the West Side, and an insightful teacher becomes a pivotal mentor.
Each day, Echo travels between two worlds, leaving her brothers, her friends, and a piece of herself behind on the East Side. There are dangers to leaving behind the place that made you. Echo soon realizes there is pain flowing through everyone around her, and a black veil of depression threatens to undo everything she’s worked for.” – Amazon Description (Links to an external site.)
Why I selected this book: Echo Brown, the author, herself, is the protagonist because it is also touted as an autobiography. This book talks about contemporary inner-city black teenage girl struggles yet it is about magical realism. Besides being a historical literary fiction fan, I am also a fan of magical realism. This fosters imagination, creating worlds and thresholds that are far from ordinary in order to deal with some serious life-altering situations.
“Savannah Riddle is lucky. As a daughter of an upper-class African American family in Washington D.C., she attends one of the most rigorous public schools in the nation–black or white–and has her pick among the young men in her set. But lately, the structure of her society–the fancy parties, the Sunday teas, the pretentious men, and shallow young women–has started to suffocate her.
Then Savannah meets Lloyd, a young West Indian man from the working class who opens Savannah’s eyes to how the other half lives. Inspired to fight for change, Savannah starts attending suffragist lectures and socialist meetings, finding herself drawn more and more to Lloyd’s world.
Set against the backdrop of the press for women’s rights, the Red Summer, and anarchist bombings, Saving Savannah is the story of a girl and the risks she must take to be the change in a world on the brink of dramatic transformation.” – Amazon description (Links to an external site.)
Why I selected this book: Okay, for one, it’s about an affluent African American family in Washington DC. Number two, it’s set in the early 1900s. It has historical and educational value being that it set during the Red Summer where white supremacists attack occurred all across the country:
Here’s an excerpt from the History channel’s website:
“The ink had barely dried on the Treaty of Versailles (Links to an external site.), which formally ended World War I, when recently returned black veterans grabbed their guns and stationed themselves on rooftops (Links to an external site.) in black neighborhoods in Washington D.C., prepared to act as snipers in the case of mob violence in July of 1919. Others set up blockades around Howard University, a black intellectual hub, creating a protective ring around residents.” <https://www.history.com/news/red-summer-1919-riots-chicago-dc-great-migration> (Links to an external site.)
“How to Go on an Unplanned Road Trip with Your Grandma:
Grab a Suitcase: Prepacked from the big spring break trip that got CANCELLED.
Fasten Your Seatbelt: G’ma’s never conventional, so this trip won’t be either.
Use the Green Book: G’ma’s most treasured possession. It holds history, memories, and most importantly, the way home.
What Not to Bring:
A Cell Phone: Avoid contact with Dad at all costs. Even when G’ma starts acting stranger than usual.
Set against the backdrop of the segregation history of the American South, take a trip with New York Times bestselling Nic Stone and an eleven-year-old boy who is about to discover that the world hasn’t always been a welcoming place for kids like him, and things aren’t always what they seem–his G’ma included.” – Amazon description (Links to an external site.)
Why I selected this book: What not to love? A road trip with G’ma in a Winnebago. Also, it talks about G’ma and her Green Book. If you haven’t watched the movie Green Book (2018) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6966692/ (Links to an external site.)), you will go back in time during the U.S. segregation-era– a time where African Americans have only a handful of hotels/motels to choose from when they are traveling from the black South to the North and vice versa. Again, an unconventional story that also bridges generations.
“Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.
So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.
This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.” – Amazon description (Links to an external site.)
Why I selected this book: Ta-Nahesi Coates (Links to an external site.) is an award-winning essayist in his own right. This is his first book of fiction and it is filled with beautiful language and heart-wrenching history.
- Latino/Caribbean-American Literature for Youth
- African-American Literature for Youth
- Filipino American Literature for Youth (Asian/Pacific-American)
- Native/First Nations/American Indian Literature for Youth
- Diverse Experiences Literature for Youth
- A Multicultural Literature Activity Plan
By the Stacks 